Gloriana still failed to gain any traction from her husband. Her latest attempts to squeeze 120 million MTA merits from him continued to fall on flat ears. That did not do their relationship any favors. Gloriana was more likely to glower or huff at Ves than to act lovey dovey around him during the journey back to Davute. Fortunately, the mood in their little family remained harmonious for the most part due to the need to put up a good front in the presence of their children. Neither Ves nor Gloriana wanted to spread any of their ugliness to their cute and innocent munchkins. As such, the couple managed to maintain a cordial atmosphere whenever they were near their children. They were aware that they needed to set a good example for their kids and prevent them from developing any weird ideas as they grew older. As the expeditionary fleet had already left the turbulent and dangerous border region without any incident and came closer to reaching the Davute System, Ves continued to spend his time on numerous projects and his children. Out of all of the design projects that he was at least sporadically involved in, he temporarily set aside many of his assignments in order to concentrate all of his creative and design energies on a single mech design. "I need to strike while the iron is hot!" Ves was on a roll ever since he produced the critical breakthroughs he needed to realize his ambitious vision for the Ghost Project! Buoyed by the rush of success, Ves became more enflamed by passion than ever! Each time he worked on the expert mech design project, the design solutions came easier and he began to work a lot more fluently than before. Every design session caused him to enter into the flow where all distractions blurred away. His state of mind entered into a half-transcendent state that approached the experience of hitting himself with his hammer! In many cases, he wasn't even fully conscious in the strictest definition of the word. Instead, his mind drifted to a new height where his mind roamed in the clouds while his subconscious self practically went on autopilot and performed all of the nitty gritty design work. Despite not thinking explicitly about his design tasks, the work he produced during each and every session fully satisfied his requirements! In a number of cases, the design solutions he half-consciously formulated during his passion-fueled work sessions were so good that he could have never performed so well if he was more attentive. "I need to keep this up as long as possible!" Ves experienced this powerful state of mind several times throughout his career. He understood how precious it was and how many benefits it could bring to his work. When everything was on a roll, it would be the height of foolishness to stop this pattern in its tracks or squander it by splitting his focus on other projects! Though many of his other design and research projects had to take a backseat while he obsessed over the Ghost Project, he figured that the benefits far outweighed the downsides. Venerable Jannzi already spent months waiting for the completion of the Dullahan Project. She could make do with waiting a little longer. Ves was still confident he could complete it within the original deadline that he had set at the start because he did not account for his recent sublimation and boost in productivity. When he met with the recovering expert pilot, he also gave her another reason for the delay. "We are in the process of converting and retooling your expert mech's structure and armor system so that they can be built out of the large quantities of high-quality first-class materials that we have salvaged from the alien battleship." He told his cousin. Venerable Jannzi had already heard a lot of stories about the valuable salvage and how the clan intended to make good use of the expensive materials. "Does that mean my reborn Shield of Samar will become a first-class mech?" "Not a true first-class mech, no." Ves shook his head. "That would force the MTA to reclassify our clan as a first-class pioneering organization, which means we have to operate in an upper zone which we are clearly not ready for. For now, our plan is to upgrade the defenses and the melee weapons of every existing expert mech to first-class standards. Everything else such as the power reactor, the circuitry, the flight system and so on will become more powerful as well, but should firmly remain within the boundaries of second-class mechs. That should be just enough for us to stay within our current strength category." The Larkinson Clan intended to follow the letter but not the spirit of the rules, and that came with substantial risks. There was always a possibility that the MTA would become so tired of the shenanigans committed by the Larkinsons that it would forcefully elevate the clan into a first-class pioneering organization! "That means my expert mech will straddle the line between second-class and first-class." Venerable Jannzi spoke. "At least you chose to upgrade the most important parts. A defensive machine needs stellar protection." Ves smiled in agreement. "Many other performance parameters won't be able to keep up, but I am sure that won't bother you that much. It is only when you are fighting against real first-class mechs that you will begin to experience the disparity. Make no mistake. There is still a substantial gap between quasi-first-class and real first-class multipurpose mechs. The latter's strongest advantage is not its high-quality materials, but how well they utilize their building blocks to integrate a large quantity of powerful weapon modules and other high-performing components." "You don't need to remind me of that. I have used my free time to expand my horizons and learn more about the threats that our clan may be facing in the future." "That is... quite productive of you." Ves remarked. "I hope to put you back in the saddle soon, but we need time to present you with a good machine that can accompany you for a long time. Right now, our clan does not have sufficient experience with working with first-class exotics. Sara Voiken is especially burdened as she needs to spend a lot of time on absorbing new knowledge that can help her process and shape the more powerful materials for the armor systems of many different ongoing mech design projects." The Design Department currently depended heavily on Sara Voiken to design optimal armor systems for all of its armor systems. This was far too iffy to Ves as it took a lot of time to design a single proper armor system for a mech design. The more powerful the materials, the more time it took to make the best use out of their properties. Combined with the fact that the Design Department had expanded over the years and worked on many more mech design projects at the same time, it was inevitable for Sara Voiken to become the greatest and most persistent bottleneck to every mech design in development! "It sounds like you need to bring on another mech designer who excels at defense." The female expert pilot noted. "It is on my agenda. I am open to hiring any talented Journeyman that can share the burden with Sara Voiken. It won't be easy, though. Our standards have grown and the supply of young Journeyman Mech Designers is inherently small because many other organizations are much better at scouting them and recruiting them. Others are too confident in their abilities to subordinate themselves to another mech designer, especially a fellow Journeyman." That did not sound like good news to Jannzi. "Will there be any problems?" "It depends. I think I will have to tour a couple of mech design contests in order to meet and observe other talented Journeymen. That is how I managed to reel in Sara Voiken in the first place." Mech design contests and other events centered around the profession were great opportunities to find promising new additions to the Design Department. The reason why Ves hadn't been able to attend them as of late was because was stuck on ship most of the time. Though virtual events provided a way for distant people like Ves to gather together with mech designers regardless of locations, they never really felt real enough to the participants. Perhaps the new Hyper Chamber that came with the upcoming refit of the Spirit of Bentheim might be enough to close the gap to an extent, but nothing beat a real face-to-face meeting. Ves should make good use of the months he intended to spend in Davute! After making it clear that Jannzi needed to wait a little longer and that her patience would pay off in the end, Ves continued to devote much of his time on progressing the Ghost Project. All of the effort that he put into the project delivered a lot of results. He and Cormaunt cooperated so well that the Geist System had essentially reached completion. Though the fully functional version of the first completed iteration of the Geist System could not be tested until the expert mech itself was done, Ves and Cormaunt both had great confidence in the effectiveness and reliability of their brilliant work. "While I only played second fiddle to you, I can't help but feel prouder and more accomplished than I have in years." The neural interface specialist told Ves in a sentimental tone. "I never imagined that I would not only work on an innovative and mind-blowing new attack system, but also get to work on it with the full support and approval of my employer." "Are you grateful for joining our clan?" Ves grinned. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, sir. It is work like this that makes me realize how much more progress we can all make in your Design Department. Those idiots who eagerly flock to the companies led by Masters don't know what they are missing out on. Sure, we all need to rely more on our own efforts in order to keep up with everyone, but at least we have the freedom to explore our own ideas." There were advantages and disadvantages to working at a large and established company. Ves did not look down on the mech designers who opted for the safe and secure career route. Still, the reason why a smaller outfit like the LMC's Design Department became so productive and successful was due to the strict recruiting standards of its lead designers. Ves essentially stacked the deck and made it easy for his relatively small company to outperform much larger and unwieldy ones. That would definitely change in the future. The Design Department was constantly short-handed and constantly needed more mech designers, both to work on the major projects that introduced completely new mech designs to the lineup and the minor projects that mostly centered around developing variants of existing works. In any case, Ves and the others could deal with that issue once the fleet settled back into Davute and gained access to its large and growing base of job seekers. "Let's get back to work." He shifted his attention to another important system of the Ghost Project. The configuration of the expert stealth mech rested on two pillars. Its Geist System was its defining feature and the element that set it apart from every other machine in its category. However, the most basic and fundamental requirement of any stealth mech was its ability to disappear into view! Without an active stealth or cloaking system, there was no meaning for it to be called this way! "Adding an active stealth system to the Ghost Project shouldn't be too difficult, but the real challenge is to make sure to equip it with a really good one instead of a mediocre off-the-shelf product." Ves frowned in thought. Obtaining a stealth system that performed close to first-class standards was easier said than done!