Chapter 6165 Parallel or Sequential Development Ves departed from the Eden Institute of Business & Technology as a happy man. The strong willingness of the Devos Ancient Clan to collaborate with Ves on Woodsap mechs resulted in a quick agreement in principle. It would take longer to form and sign a proper contract, but their cooperation was already set in stone as far as both sides were concerned. With this new deal, Ves had taken another step towards developing a closer relationship with the Terran Alliance. As Ves boarded an armored shuttle that would take him back to Diandi Base, he began to look back on his decisions in order to reflect on them. Had he made any mistakes in his haste to make quick progress? "I don't think I have made any wrong decisions." In fact, he felt as if he had stumbled upon a more promising development trajectory. Ves never forgot that he speculated that one of his potential opportunities to advance to Master Mech Designer was to develop elemental Carmine mechs based on all five classical elements. One of the reasons why he felt reluctant to pursue this particular path was because it demanded way too much time and effort from him. It was already exhausting enough for him to develop Woodsap mechs alone. To repeat this ordeal four times without a convenient shortcut like the Elegant Rage on hand was too excessive! Yet what if he took advantage of extensive technical support from third parties? As long as Ves did not go too far and made sure he always remained in charge of the key systems of the elemental Carmine Systems, he could off-load a huge amount of secondary research topics to the top research teams of powerful players! The cooperation agreement with the Devos Ancient Clan could serve as a template for similar deals with other partners. For example, Ves could cooperate with the Mech Supremacist Faction to develop a metal Carmine mech, the Transhumanist Faction to develop a water element Carmine mech, the Rubarthans to develop an earth Carmine mech and maybe even the Red Fleet to develop a Bloodfire mech! As long as he limited each major player to a single element, he could maximize the research support he could leverage from third parties! "I don't have to cooperate with the big players either. There are many smaller first-rate colonial states that would be happy to sponsor my research in exchange for special treatment." One of the advantages of making multiple deals with different partners was that he could work on all of the major research projects at the same time! It would take a very heavy commitment from him in order to devote enough time on the development of all five variations of elemental Carmine mechs on a concurrent basis. He would have to reduce his teaching obligations, spend less time with his children, design less mechs for the Larkinson Clan, publish less commercial works on the market and cut back on spontaneous research projects. However, as long as he was willing to make this sacrifice, he could devote all of his time on developing five very different varieties of elemental Carmine mechs! "If everything goes smoothly, it should not take longer than 5 years to complete any single project. That means… I will gain an opportunity to realize my design philosophy 5 years after kicking off this marathon." Ves grew stunned at how absurd this sounded. A part of him felt it was crazy for him to think that he could make up for the extensive gap in mech designs and other forms of accumulation by developing 5 revolutionary elemental Carmine mechs, but he truly felt as if he could complete this amazing feat! So long as he continued to build up his momentum and did not get stuck along the way, Ves had great confidence that he could actually realize his design philosophy by the time he completed all 5 research projects in quick succession! "This is crazy!" Ves was over 40 years old at the moment, so if he followed this insane plan, then he had a good chance of breaking the Polymath's record for becoming the youngest Master Mech Designer in human history! He kind of understood why the Polymath managed to make such rapid progress when she finally became a Senior. Part of the challenge that Seniors struggled with was that they had to wait a long time to obtain the right inspiration to develop the right idea that could form the basis of their advancement opportunity. There were Seniors who managed to gain a clear idea on what they could do in order to realize their design philosophies, but lacked the knowledge, resources and other requirements to fulfill their ambition. There were also other Seniors who studied a lot of knowledge, but became so awed by the work of their predecessors that they could not come up with a worthwhile idea for them to pursue. Then there were mech designers who possessed the resources to pursue an ambitious idea, but lacked the knowledge and skills to realize their dream. In short, there were many reasons for Senior Mech Designers to remain stuck in their current ranks for decades if not centuries. Ves used to place himself in the first category, sort of. He was not lacking in ideas, but he always thought he was not qualified to work towards becoming a Master Mech Designer due to inadequate resources and knowledge. This was why his latest insight came as a shock to him. By outsourcing a lot of secondary and less important research assignments to different partners, Ves could reap a lot of benefits and accelerate his own progress. He seriously felt tempted to enact this bold plan right away! "I can't!" Ves shook his head. "It's too demanding! I can't work on five of these heavy projects at the same time. I would have to give too much in order to break the Polymath's record." Although Ves understood the need to speed up his progress and become a Star Designer before the Subjugation King arrived in the Red Ocean, he did not want to deviate from his heart and become a different sort of mech designer! Ves always pursued breadth over depth. He possessed a wide variety of interests and liked to explore many different research directions at different times. He always considered his ability to jump from one research subject to another as his strength. If he tried to force himself into completing his elemental Carmine mechs at the exclusion of everything else, then he would be betraying his own inclinations as a mech designer! He understood the benefits of becoming a more focused and specialized mech designer like Ketis and Gloriana, but Ves refused to limit his options! There was an endless variety of mechs and design applications that he could explore over his long career! He did not want to let his fear towards the Subjugation King and the vanity of beating the Polymath's record divert him from his current trajectory. Ves let out a sigh. "It's best if I stick to my original plan and work on them one by one. There is no need for haste. Working on the research projects on a sequential basis will also allow me to apply the lessons of the old projects to the newer ones." It was more efficient and steady to work on Woodsap mechs first, Bloodfire mechs second and maybe water Carmine mechs third. By the time he tackled earth and metal Carmine mechs, technology advanced so much that a lot of better options became available. Ves also gained so much proficiency in elemental Carmine Systems in general that it should only take a fraction of the time to complete the remaining ones. Perhaps he might end up prolonging his status as a Senior Mech Designer for another decade if he followed this trajectory, but he would truly earn his breakthrough at that point. If Ves had a choice, he did not wish to force an early breakthrough and suffer the consequences of doing so. Perhaps the Polymath paid a heavy price in order to hold her current record. As the shuttle finally returned to Diandi Base, Ves finally reunited with his wife and shared some of the latest developments. "You made the right decision to cooperate with the Terrans." Gloriana remarked. "I believe that one of the reasons why the Terrans have uncharacteristically moved quickly to secure an agreement with you is because they are driven by Gaia to embrace your Woodsap mechs." Ves raised his eyebrows. "Gaia? Really?" "I do not know if you have been paying attention to it lately, but Gaia worship has been gaining ground within Terran society. There are many older and established faiths that are doing their best to push against the rise of 'paganism' as they call it, but the fact that Gaia actually bothers to respond to her devoted worshipers on rare occasions is much more convincing than praying to a boy that is nailed to a cross!" "That figure on the cross is a man." Ves corrected her. "How old was he, thirty? That is a full adult, especially in more primitive times when life expectancies were much lower." Gloriana rolled her eyes. "That doesn't change the fact that the gods of these old churches have produced less miracles over multiple millenia than Gaia has done in only a handful of years!" "You're right. I haven't paid attention to this. I wouldn't dismiss the old faiths too soon, though. They existed for thousands of years for good reasons. At the very least, their flocks are not only huge, but there are also a lot of strong worshipers among them. The power of collective belief is capable of producing miracles on its own. Anything is possible in the Age of Dawn." Ves used to be a strict secularist that treated all religions as scam organizations, but he was not as eager to promote this stance anymore. He was a mech designer as well as a scientist. He had witnessed a lot of crazy stuff during the Age of Dawn that had forced him to recalibrate his perspective on reality. In any case, if Gloriana was correct that Gaia had quietly been pushing the Terrans to support the rise of Woodsap mechs, then Ves welcomed this development. He did not feel upset that Gaia, who already possessed a vested interest in Woodsap mechs, had secretly encouraged the Terrans to fall in love with mechs like the Elegant Rage. As long as Ves did a good job in delivering a strong and practical Woodsap mech design, everyone's beliefs in his work would get vindicated! "The help of the Terrans comes at a convenient time." Ves remarked. "Once we have completed the upgrades to the Amaranto, the Riot, the First Sword and the Promethea, I think it is time for us to upgrade the Everchanger into a Woodsap mech." "Will Joshua agree to form a Woodsap Pact with the Everchanger?" Gloriana skeptically asked. "I don't know, but who says that mech pilots have to form a Carmine Pact with a Carmine mech? Didn't Major Jankowski manage to do an adequate job with the Elegant Rage despite the fact that he never made use of the Woodsap Carmine System? We can add this feature to the next iteration of the Everchanger, but retain the existing neural interface. This way, we can give Joshua the choice on how he wants to shape his own future as a mech pilot." His wife looked intrigued. "I understand your logic. This will not make Joshua's life comfortable, however. The longer he pilots the Everchanger without making use of the Woodsap Carmine System, the more he will become plagued by this temptation. Joshua is a pilot that is prone to worrying. You will mentally torture him if you put the Woodsap Carmine System within reach but do not place any obligations to form a pact." "I can't baby Joshua around forever. If he cannot withstand this torture, then he is not fit to become an ace pilot like Tusa and Isobel."