The Mech Touch

In the evening after Ketis arrived at Diandi Base, Ves and his family accompanied and entertained the Swordmaiden mech designer.

Ketis impressed the children with her tales of adventure and her feats of swordsmanship. She also talked shop with Ves and Gloriana by talking about her ongoing work on the Stormblade Samurai Mark II.

It didn't look as if she was an old friend on a visit instead of going on a pure business trip.

As far as Ves was concerned, Ketis was part of the family. She was more than just another Larkinson. She was a trusted comrade in arms, a long-time collaborating mech designer and a powerful warrior in her own right. All of these reasons and more prompted Ves to treat her as a relative who was closer to him than many trueblood Larkinsons.

Once the evening dragged on, Ves and Gloriana patiently put their children to bed and kissed them good night in order to enjoy their sweet dreams.

"I see that you still have pressing business to discuss with Ketis." Gloriana knowingly remarked. "If this matter cannot wait until tomorrow, then go ahead and have your talk with her. Our guest is clearly anxious to learn why you summoned her all the way to New Constantinople. It is better if you can solve her apprehension as soon as possible instead of allowing it to fester in her for the entire night."

"Aren't you curious what I intend to discuss with her?" Ves asked.

"I am, but I know better than to force an answer out of you. Now that you have entered the big leagues, you have been keeping more and more secrets. I would not be a good wife if I insisted that you share everything with me. You have your life, and I have my life. I am already preoccupied with designing the upgrades to a pair of expert mechs as well as supervising the transformation of the Dark Zephyr Mark III into our first ace mech. On top of that, I also have to lead the Design Department since you have handed it over to me. If I want to spare enough time to raise my children when they return from school, I truly cannot handle any further responsibilities."

His wife was just as busy as himself, and that was good. Gloriana was clearly a woman who wanted to prove herself. By taking over many of the chores that Ves would otherwise have to handle himself, she was doing a great job at relieving his burdens.

Ves smiled and leaned over to kiss her. "Thank you for your work. Your contributions are truly indispensable. I hope that you can keep up the good work."

Gloriana smiled back and pecked him on the cheek. "I will do so as long as you continue to make us all proud. Our division of responsibilities outside of mech design are clear. You should continue to handle all of the external affairs of our clan while I make sure that our internal affairs remain in order."

Ves did not recall that he had surrendered so many leadership responsibilities to his wife. He only gave her the right to take charge of the Design Department and supervise all of the R&D institutions of the clan. That was still a far cry from being able to lead the clan from the inside.

It didn't matter. Once his oldest daughter grew up, Ves hoped to ease her into the role so that he could rest assured that his clan had fallen into more responsible hands.

He rose to his feet and moved to depart. "Don't wait for me. What I am about to discuss with Ketis is so important that our talk will probably consume the entire night."

As he left his secure mansion and headed underground, the weight of his upcoming action seemed to press down onto his shoulders.

Each step grew heavier as Ves momentarily became plagued with doubts and concerns.

He was about to reveal the Mech Designer System to another person.

Outside of his parents, Ves had tried his best not to spread this secret any further!

Even Sigrund and Calabast only vaguely found out that he was the Holy Son of the Metal Scroll a long time ago. Perhaps they might suspect that he had access to a miraculous relic with the functions of the System, but they most certainly should not have access to detailed information.

Now, Ves was on the cusp of exposing nearly everything about a powerful device that he had relied upon so long to propel himself to success.

He would be lying if he claimed he was not feeling nervous. If his control over his body wasn't so excellent, his feet would have been shaking by this time.

As a paranoid mech designer who had suffered many instances of betrayal in the past, Ves still felt extremely reluctant to expose such a sensitive secret.

Ketis would essentially have blackmail material over Ves after he made the big revelation. She could go to the Red Association or another big organization and spill all of the secrets she learned from him in order to do incalculable damage to his interests.

The fear that the wrong person in possession of this information could ruin his life at any time was one of the biggest reasons why Ves had yet to make use of the opportunity to invite another mech designer to make use of the System.

He would rather keep the Mech Designer System severely underutilized than to put himself at personal risk.

"I can't go on like this, though." He sighed.

The main reason why he changed his mind this time was because the circumstances had changed.

The Red Tide Offensive was more effective than people anticipated. The 3rd defensive band was being battered at this very hour, and the continued separation of Bridgehead One from the rest of human space had disrupted many plans.

Ves also needed the help of another contributor in order to pay for all of the necessary upgrades to the new Dimension Observatory.

Even though months had already passed since the System completed its third upgrade, Ves had yet to make use of it, which was ridiculous!

If future upgrades to the Mech Designer System added more and more expensive functions, then the time where Ves could take care of everything by himself was over.

Ves considered this to be an experiment of sorts. He could not predict what would happen after he brought in a second user.

It would be better for him and his clan if he started to bestow access to the System to other trusted mech designers.

Ketis was the first.

Ves considered this to be an experiment of sorts. He could not predict what would happen after he brought in a second user.

Would the Mech Designer System undergo a spontaneous upgrade or transformation?

Would Ketis change overnight after getting overwhelmed at all of the options that had become available?

Would others somehow find out what he had done?

All of these questions and more continued to plague him, but they did not deter him from going through with his plan.

Time was running out. Ves needed to take action regardless of the risks and consequences. It was better to be proactive and face the possibility of failure than to do nothing and suffer a guaranteed loss.

Besides, Ves possessed so much trust and confidence in Ketis that he did not think she would deliberately betray his trust.

A part of Ves felt it was only fair for him to reward years of loyal service and dedication with becoming the second user of the powerful Mech Designer System.

She would not just become a fellow beneficiary of everything that the growing fragment of the Metal Scroll had to offer, but she would also become his partner in earnest. The System would bind the two together in a secret group that was utterly unique.

As Ves stopped before the entrance of the secure chamber, he briefly shifted his gaze towards his silent but ever-present RA bodyguards.

Although he did not directly command them, the heavily armored guards obeyed his silent instruction and took up positions to the side of the armored blast doors.

Ves entered the secure underground chamber and moved to the center where two plain metal chairs were placed next to a simple metal desk.

Ketis had already arrived in advance. She was currently having a lovely time with Lucky.

"Meow!"

The cat eagerly sat on top of the floating Bloodsinger as the sheathed weapon flew back and forth around the confines of the chamber.

That soon ended as Ves arrived before Ketis. The Bloodsinger returned to her rear while Lucky floated over to the metal desk.

"Did you perform the checks, Lucky?"

"Meow."

"Good. Keep watch and make sure that no one is able to find out what is happening."

In order to make sure that Lucky did his job, Ves reached into his pocket and threw a chunk of high-grade exotic ore onto the desk.

"Meow meow meow!" Lucky enthusiastically promised before he began to dig into his reward.

Ves did not start to talk to Ketis right away. He deployed his usual suite of jamming devices and other sources of interference.

He utilized his spatial senses as well as Blinky's sharp spiritual senses to perform a quick sweep to ensure that nothing strange had slipped into the chamber without his notice.

He just knew that the Red Association was secretly trying to eavesdrop on the important conversation that Ves intended to hold with his former student.

The mechers couldn't help it. It was in their nature. It did not even matter that he had become one of their strongest allies and associates. They probably would have attempted to spy on god pilots if they found a way to circumvent the detection mechanisms of God Kingdoms somehow!

In any case, his final sweep did not reveal anything untoward. The mechers wouldn't attempt to spy on him and breach his trust in such an egregious fashion by slipping in a listening device that could not easily be hidden.

That did not rule out that the mechers succeeded in planting a device that amazingly avoided all of his detection methods due to working on unconventional or alien technology.

Ves had a solution for that as well.

It was a bit of a risky move, but if it worked out the way he envisioned, then the probability that the mechers would be able to gain any useful information on what took place should be close to zero!

"Ketis." Ves greeted the woman.

"Ves." The woman stood up. "You wanted me. Here I am. I hope I can finally obtain answers from you. What is all of this secrecy about? Why do I feel you are about to change my life forever?"

"Patience, Ketis. I intend to clarify everything to you in due time. First, take my hand."

Ketis looked puzzled, but did as instructed. Her firm, meaty hand which showed the traces of long practice with wielding a greatsword clasped Ves' own hand with a strong grip.

The two hadn't even completed one handshake before their environment completely changed!

No longer were the two mech designers locked in a cold and sterile metal chamber that was built for privacy.

They had appeared at the bottom of a majestic-looking mountaintop that appeared to be situated on an idyllic terrestrial planet!

Ketis instantly went on guard as soon as she noticed she appeared in a completely different space.

The only reason why she had not lashed out yet was because her Bloodsinger accompanied her and because Ves' expression told her that he was the one responsible for bringing her to this mysterious site.

"Ves, what is this? Where have we appeared? Is this a secret phase whale enclave? No. That doesn't make sense. We wouldn't be in open terrain if that was the case. This place… the air is too clean and the gravity is exactly 1 g. This place is…"

Her words trailed off as a giant announcement filled her vision.

[WELCOME TO THE MECH DESIGNER SYSTEM, KETIS LARKINSON. AS THE SECOND USER, YOU HAVE FULL ACCESS TO ALL OF THE AVAILABLE FACILITIES IN THIS SPACE.]

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