The Mech Touch

6011 Sunk Costs

Although Alexa Streon had access to plenty of textbooks and articles that told her that it was a bad idea to pile too many modules onto a third-class mech design, she still needed a lot more convincing in order to stop herself from overloading her works.

This was a common bad habit of every first-class mech designer. They studied so hard to design first-class multipurpose mechs that they completely rejected the notion of specialized mechs.

Even if they understood that the latter still had reasons to exist, first-raters such as Alexa considered them to be primitive, outdated and even outright objectively inferior!

It was not their fault that these arrogant and elitist Terrans and so on developed such a strong bias against specialized mechs. They merely assimilated the stances propagated by their teachers and textbooks.

When they spent all of their tas a mech design student or working professional in an environment that denigrated specialized mechs, it would be a miracle if they held the opposite opinion!

Still, Ves actually found it rather funny that a woman as smart as Alexa struggled to understand the core principles of third- class mech design.

It showed that she was still fallible.

"Perhaps you have set your sights too low." Ves gently told her. "Going from first-class mech designs to third-class mech designs is too extrof a jump. Maybe it is best if you start with designing second-class mechs first. You have already assisted in the design of several recent LMC products such as the Fey Fianna, so you should know how much more you can get away with at this tech level. Specialization is still the prevailing norm in the second-class mech market, but there is much more room for additional armaments depending on the design budget. The challenge is to maintain a good balance between extra features and strong foundations."

Although the blond mech designer understood that this was a logical alternative, she still shook her head in rejection.

"You are correct that it would require much less effort on my part to adapt to second-class mech design. That is exactly why I do not intend to follow this course of action. Having observed young and notable professionals such as Director Gloriana, Saint Tusa and most notably yourself, I have found that your Larkinson ethos is a common driver to your success. Journeymen are meant to explore what else can be done with mechs outside of what they have already learned. The further away from my comfort zone, the more lessons I will learn from the experience. I do not necessarily have to succeed in order to broaden my horizons, but I do not intend to fail in a task as simple as designing a commercially successful third-

class mech."

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She possessed a lot of ambition, at least. Ves approved of her desire to seek a greater challenge despite how much hardship she was piling onto her shoulders.

"Well, I won't discourage you if you think you are up to the task. I think you are right that you will reap greater rewards by mastering the art of designing third-class mechs without trying to familiarize yourself with second-class mech design first. However, you shouldn't try to work with third-class mechs with the mindset of transforming all of the paradigms surrounding them. You need to produce good results with the most basic third-class mechs first before you can even think about changing the formulas. It might not be apparent to you, but it is really difficult to design an excellent knight mech or rifleman mech when you aren't allowed to add any additional gimmicks or variations to their formulas. You need to get really good at squeezing the greatest amount of performance from the most inferior tech and materials. You can't cheat this process by resorting to advanced high technology or blowing through your design budget."

Alexa took his words seriously. She already started to feel intimidated by this seemingly simple sounding challenge.

Her limited experience with third-class mechs so far taught her that many of her skills and methodology no longer applied anymore. It actually beccounterproductive to adopt the smethods that she took for granted. She found it profoundly disturbing to stop and break her routine.

However, it was instances like this that would ultimately turn her into a better and more versatile mech designer.

"I will never look down on third-class mech designers again." Alexa whispered as she started to fall deep into thought. "My peers and I used to think that they were not actually real mech designers. Their mechs are so simple that it looks as if even a first year mech design student can produce works of similar quality. Now I know that possessing a much greater grasp on theory alone is far from enough to produce a better third-class mech."

"You are not entirely right or wrong on that front, Alexa. It is true that third-class mech designers possess their own strengths, but many third-class products that have attained market leadership consist of mainstream mech models sold by huge first-class enterprises. Anyone can learn how to design a third-class as long as they put in enough honest work."

"I shall take that into account."

They talked a bit more about the unique intricacies of designing third-class mechs, but Ves believed that his student no longer needed any further advice to succeed in her venture.

He liked that about Alexa. She was so damn smart and independent that he only needed to point her in the right direction every now and then. Perhaps she would have been able to figure out how to design proper third-class mechs through her own realizations. His intervention merely saved her a bit of time.

After his meeting with Alexa, Ves decided to drop by a pair of mech designers that he hadn't paid too much attention to as of late.

Instead of visiting them at their respective workplaces, he decided to summon them to his own design lab.

"Meow."

"Ah, hello, Lucky. It has been a long tsince I last greeted you. You look so much more powerful now that you have turned into an archemetal cat."

A pair of young and vigorous men smiled and petted Lucky's head and back for a few seconds.

Cats earned a special place in the Larkinson Clan. Hardly anyone could resist their charm, and it was not unusual to see them hanging around in workplaces.

Once the pair of Apprentice Mech Designers sat down in front of Ves' desk, they both looked at their patriarch with hope and apprehension.

"Maikel. Zanthar. It's been a while since I last checked on your progress." Ves straightforwardly began. "A lot has been on my mind as of late, and I have a lot of responsibilities that require my attention. However, I also chose to keep my distance from the two of you because I trust that you can manage your careers without needing anyone to hold your hands. Now letask you this. Am I right to put my trust in your capacity to work on an independent basis?"

Neither of the two looked comfortable after Ves asked this question.

"I think that I have done my best under the circumstances." Zanthar cautiously said. "I have continued to explore and study ranged weapon systems. I have invested much of my ton trying to increase my understanding of luminar crystal technology. I am still attempting to form a design philosophy centered around luminar crystal weapons, but it takes tforto understand the alien tech and navigate through all of the gaps in known theory. I don't think I can break through in the short term if I continue to commit to luminar crystal technology, but knowing how much potential that you have drawn from it makesconvinced that it is worth it to specialize in it. Luminar crystal technology has excellent compatibility with hyper technology, so it has beceven more valuable than before."

That was a courageous decision on the part of Zanthar. Not Apprentices possessed the guts and determination to base their most precious design philosophies around alien tech with unknown depth and potential.

"I cannot judge whether your decision is right or wrong." Ves replied. "In fact, I think that every earnest pursuit of tech that can improve the existing standard of mechs is a worthwhile or noble endeavor. The difficulty lies in knowing when your decision is a good investment of your time. How many years do you think it will take before you can advance to Journeyman?"

Zanthar slumped a bit. "I honestly do not know. I have learned that it is best if I do not set any expectations for myself on this. These days, I am continuing to study and experiment with luminar crystal tech with the hope that I will gain an epiphany one day that can form the basis of my design philosophy."

"That is a very unreliable approach." Ves pointed out. "It works best for geniuses who manage to becJourneymen before their thirties, but… I think it is abundantly clear that neither of you fall within this category."

That statement depressed the two Larkinsons even further.

"Sorry."

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"There is no need to apologize." Ves said in a gentler tone. "You don't need to compare yourself to me, Gloriana, Ketis, Alexa or anyone else in the Design Department. Many of the high- ranking mech designers are young, talented and capable because I deliberately selected for these traits when I went on my hiring sprees. Do not make the mistake of assuming that every proper mech designer has to be a prodigy who can produce results in much less tthan others. It is not uncommon for Apprentice Mech Designers to form their design philosophies when they are in their fifties or sixties. Of course, much of the delays cfrom trying to pursue more ambitious design philosophies."

While that was true, these slowpokes usually made less achievements in their lives.

"We don't want to becmediocre mech designers." Maikel spoke up. "Maybe it is not possible for us to be as good as you, but we want to becbrilliant in our own ways. Zanthar doesn't want to give up on luminar crystal technology, and I don't want to give up on designing living mechs. We would rather stay stuck as Apprentices for several more decades than to settle for less ambitious design philosophies."

To be honest, Ves believed that the two trueblood Larkinsons did not have what it takes to achieve success in their current paths. They were lacking in talent and qualifications, which was not surprising since they used to be a pair of average third-raters.

Then again, Ves was not much different from them. The biggest difference that set him apart from Maikel and Zanthar was that he had boosted his career by making use of the Mech Designer System.

That briefly injected another idea into his mind.

What if… he inducted them into the Mech Designer System?

Although their qualifications were admittedly poor, that becirrelevant as long as the two started to make proper use of the opportunities granted by the System.

Maikel and Zanthar's loyalty and commitment to the Larkinson Clan was beyond doubt. They also respected him and looked up to him to an insane degree due to witnessing his rise from the Bright Republic to the upper echelons of red humanity from the beginning.

Ves was also satisfied with their attitude and approach towards mech design. They would have been able to make a lot more achievements if they were smarter or more talented, but their poor backgrounds held them back.

The meeting dragged on for half an hour before Ves dismissed the two Apprentices.

Though Ves had yet to make a decision on this matter, he was definitely beginning to lean in this direction.

The more he thought about it, the less he thought it was a bad idea.

The only issue that made him more hesitant was whether it was cost-effective for him to pull them into the System.

He hadn't checked this particular function after the last update, but the System definitely charged a hefty price to bestow anyone with the status of a user.

If he had to invest 1000 AP or something to give Maikel or Zanthar access to the System, then he would be a lot more reluctant to make this investment!