The Mech Touch

Ves could state without a shadow of a doubt that it was impossible to design his new Blood Knight Project as a conventional mech.

A machine that consisted of solid alloys, inorganic composites and electrical circuitry could never bond with a human body in the same manner.

"All of the mechs that I have designed before have never made use of blood in any fashion... what a waste."

To be fair, it was hard for Ves to come up with a viable mechanism that would allow a mech pilot to bond closer with a conventional mech through the sharing of blood.

There was no reason for human blood to circulate throughout the frame of a metallic mech.

The only possible way to justify this blood sharing mechanism in a mech like the Bright Warrior was to add organic components to their existing designs.

"In other words, I first need to convert my conventional mechs into cyborg mechs before I can implement a blood sharing mechanism, and even then it will just be a watered down version of the mechanism applied to biomehcs."

It didn't really seem worth it to Ves. Metallic mechs were never supposed to work with blood and trying to shoehorn it in sounded like blasphemy in his opinion.

It would be better if Ves kept the two types of mechs separate from each other.

While Ves recognized the power of blood, he did not believe it was the only method for empowerment. His original design philosophy had never taken it into account in the first place, so he could choose to keep his classical mechs on the same path.

It all depended on what he was trying to accomplish. While Ves had definitely become enamored with biomechs, once he drew out of his high, he realized that it wasn't a good idea to fully commit to biomechs.

"The mech industry is largely based on metallic mechs. Whether this is good or not, this is the reality that cannot be changed."

Of course, the biggest reason why biomechs never caught up to conventional mechs was because the former hadn't been able to present itself as a powerful alternative.

Ves believed that his newly conceived blood systems might change this paradigm, but even then the inertia in the mech industry was set too deep.

There were countless mech designers, mech companies, mech technicians and other people who had tied their interests to the current paradigms of the mech industry!

Ves should know because he used to be one of them before he became enlightened by the wisdom of the Blood Cult.

The overwhelming majority of mech insiders were unable or unwilling to go extensive retraining and reeducation in order to become qualified to work in the biomech industry.

There were also many older mech designers who had worked hard to develop and realize design philosophies that were solely applicable to metallic mechs. Each of them had made such heavy commitments to the mechs that they were able to work with that they would rather hang up their capes and retire than touch a single biomech in their lives!

Although Ves didn't particularly care about the decisions of other people, he recognized that it wasn't a great idea to completely transition to designing biomechs.

It would mess up everything, from his collaboration with his wife to the infrastructure of his clan.

"Besides, I will get bored if I design too many biomechs."

Ves was a mech designer who craved ty and variation. He always wanted to break new ground and develop new design applications.

While there was an endless variety of biomechs that he could design, the same could be said for conventional mechs.

He would rather keep his feet in both of these fields and choose whichever suited him the most for a particular design goal.

"This sounds like a good way for me to proceed." Ves smiled as he settled his confusion about his future course. "I am not excluding anything. I am merely including biomechs as part of my repertoire."

His clansmen would probably be in for a big surprise once he returned to reality and suddenly became greeted with a Ves that not only wanted to design biomechs, but was actually able to do so despite not showing any inkling that he acquired the necessary skills!

In any case, as Ves continued to evaluate his beautiful and innovative draft design, he made up his mind about his approach to mech design going forward.

"Conventional mechs should still be my primary focus." Ves told himself. "I'm not sure if my best work will come in the form of a metallic mech, but it should definitely be the work that I am most proud of. I still believe there are ways to make them more powerful without relying on blood."

That said, Ves did not want to ignore the potential of blood either. It was just like phasewater. The liquid of life could produce amazing effects as long as he effectively leveraged its properties.

"My biomechs can serve as more experimental platforms. I can try out new tricks and test out theories on a radically different mech frame. The data that I can gather from these experimental works can be used to form a contrast to the data taken from my conventional mechs."

The purpose of this strategy was to become a better mech designer. Trying out new design applications under different circumstances was an excellent way to verify his theories and generate more insights about different aspects of his work.

"I understand what the System is trying to do by presenting this Mission to me. It wants me to go out of my comfort zone and expand my horizons. Well, I've only entered the field of biomechs for a short amount of time, but already I am brimming with so many ideas that I've never been so excited about my profession!"

He was like an xenoarchaeologist who had suddenly stumbled upon a gigantic ruin that was based on a completely unknown intelligent alien species!

Although a part of Ves recognized that spending too much time on biomechs would most certainly take a lot of time away from his conventional mech designs, he didn't really mind this distraction.

"Designing 5 conventional mechs that all share the same base won't get me too far. I can make at least twice as much progress if I switch 1 of those mechs with a biomech."

Ves had already noticed that he had fallen into a rut of some sorts. His progress in the last few years had been steady but also slow. It wasn't until he came up with the Dullahan Project that he felt that he had his first real shot at taking a leap forward, but even then it was only a single major change.

In contrast, biomechs opened up so many potential new ideas that Ves would definitely have his hands full for a long period of time!

"It's too much."

There were far too many possibilities for him to explore in his lifetime. He would have to make a lot of hard choices and limit his explorations to the design applications that were most relevant to his overall goals and his design philosophy.

The Blood Knight Project that he had just envisioned was a potential way to achieve a major breakthrough in his design philosophy.

His ambition had always been to create greater synergy and promote mutual growth between the mech and mech pilot.

Exploring a new direction that involved a biological means of power sharing would definitely present him with a lot of new results.

If everything went well, he might be able to adapt the effects of the blood sharing process into a purely spiritual mechanism.

This way, he could apply a version of the mechanism in a conventional mech design without involving any biotech components!

"It's similar to how Master Benedict Cortez was able to develop his Endex System based on an energy bridge made through the use of the skull of a human expert pilot. He managed to develop a working substitute made out of inorganic exotic materials."

The practice of developing substitute materials and systems was a time-honored tradition in the mech industry.

"I'll probably have to become a Senior or a Master in order to pull this off, but it is definitely an interesting research topic."

It might even be a potential way for him to advance to the rank of Master Mech Designer!

Of course, that was too far away for him to consider.

His current priority was to complete the Blood Knight Project to his satisfaction.

"It's a lot more complicated than I thought it would be, but it is also strong and innovative."

The Blood Knight Project fully satisfied all of his requirements and more.

The physical design of his proposed space bioknight did not exceed his current capabilities.

He deliberately planned to make use of fairly simple biomaterials and bioparts to mold his organic machine together.

There was no way he could handle more powerful and more complex elements because his proficiency in Biotechnology still remained at the Novice-level.

"Besides, even if I can make use of more powerful biocomponents, it will take a lot more time to integrate them into a coherent biomech design."

Speed was of the essence. Ves had not forgotten about his Mission. Working with bog-standard human-derived biotissue and relatively generic bioparts was well within his level, though he wouldn't be able to make his work stand out in terms of technical performance.

The only exception was the addition of the four bone-black tentacles. It would take a little more time for Ves to design them properly enough to function the way he wanted, but he felt it was worth the tradeoff.

"Still, the tentacles alone won't make this biomech design special."

The added value of his Blood Knight Project lay in its blood.

Ves would have to spend a bit more time on designing new organic components related to blood.

He wasn't sure that his expanded knowledge base was enough for him to design a mechanism where the mech pilot and the biomech could safely share each other's blood, but he wasn't willing to give up on this promising feature.

"My biomech is useless if it can't establish a Blood Pact with its mech pilot!"

The Blood Pact was what he decided to call it. The phrase represented a solemn, sacred bond between a human and a living biomech.

It was a bond that was meant to elevate their relationship beyond the usual parameters.

"A Blood Pact is greater than the relationship between a user and a tool."

"A Blood Pact is greater than the relationship between a mech pilot and a living mech."

"A Blood Pact is greater than the relationship between a mech pilot and a living incarnation."

Ves suspected that a successful Blood Pact might produce power that exceeded that of Gloriana's own interpretation of living mechs!

While Ves admired the way that the Mars had become a fully aligned vessel of Patriarch Reginald's will, he hated the way the ace mech had lost all signs of independent life.

Ever since Patriarch Reginald followed Gloriana's approach to living mechs, Ves felt an urgent need to improve upon his existing model of the relationship between mech pilots and living mechs.

What he was attempting to realize with his Blood Knight Project may be the solution he was looking for! By utilizing extraordinary means to 'upgrade' the relationship between the actors, Ves hoped that his new breed of biomechs could produce much greater synergy than ever before!

"Synergy is the key!"

The power of a mech and a mech pilot was limited. While both of them were able to become strong through different means, Ves had always been a proponent of growth combined with mutual support.

By deepening the integration of a biomech and mech pilot, Ves aimed to develop a state of fusion between the two. The lines between the two should blur to the point where the biomech effectively fought on the battlefield as if it was a Siamese twin!