Chapter 7407: Inadequately Tested Inducting Alexa Streon into the Mech Designer System was a significant act. For the first time, the System gained a user who did not start out as a poor third-class mech designer or an average second-class mech designer. While Ves had a high opinion of himself, Gloriana and Ketis, he had no illusions about their ability to succeed without relying on lots of external aid. He knew very well that the benefits provided by the System directly or indirectly boosted their careers far ahead of their age brackets. This support used to go through himself, but now the two women did not have to bother with that anymore as they could directly spend their AP on attractive goodies. Both of them benefited enormously from this change. Though Ves did not pay close attention to how much AP they earned and what they spent it on, he could track their overall improvement quite clearly by observing their work results. Gloriana and Ketis accessed the System much later than Ves. They had already formulated their design philosophies and built up decent foundations. Becoming users meant that they could strategically exchange enlightenment fruits that complemented and deepened their core specializations at an incredibly fast rate. Ves expected Alexa to adopt a different spending strategy. Due to her stellar Terran background and education, her foundation was already fairly broad and extensive. What she needed the most was depth. She needed to develop a handful of specializations that could distinguish her work from that of others, including that of Ves himself! While Ves had occasionally dropped by and examined her incomplete legacy mech designs, he only thought that they were fine. Their technical performance could be described as decent, but outside of their inheritance stuff, they lacked the spark of brilliance that could turn them into memorable and highly valued products. This was not because Alexa was incompetent or lacking in imagination. She might not be as creative as himself, but she was a pretty good artist in her own right. What she truly lacked were strong secondary specializations that could accentuate her dynastic mech concept and allow them to flourish in their own right. The Tree of Possibilities gave her the option to develop these strengths at a much faster and more convenient rate than usual. Ves and Gloriana deliberately refrained from advising or recommending her to absorb any specific enlightenment fruits. It would be too patronizing for the pair of Seniors to micromanage the development of a Journeyman. Though Alexa was younger than the Miracle Couple, she was already an adult who had reached the stage in her career where she could comfortably go independent and find her own way. Ves had monitored her work and progress long enough to trust her judgment. He did not think she would spend her AP on any foolish or frivolous items. In any case, there was no point in hovering over her shoulders as she initially made use of the System. It would be better to wait a few months before checking up on her progress. That should be enough time for her to earn a tidy sum of AP and exchange them for a few affordable but impactful enlightenment fruits. In the meantime, Ves intended to pay a little more attention to Zanthar Larkinson and Sara Voiken. Compared to Alexa, Ves understood them a lot less, but that was mainly because he was too busy to interact with them too frequently. As Ves became more involved in galactic affairs, he pushed aside most of the work related to managing the Design Department to Gloriana and Alexa. As the director and vice director of the department in question, they had assumed most of the burden of tracking the progress of all of the mech designers. While Ves was willing to trust the two women to understand their subordinates well enough to judge whether any of the latter deserved to join their little club, this was not enough. The Mech Designer System was far too important and sensitive for Ves to act negligent when it came to screening potential entrants. He resolved to cooperate a little more closely with Zanthar and Sara in their route design work. "We are almost ready to cast off, sir." Admiral Gori Tensen reported. Ves turned his attention away from the System and returned to the present. Inviting Alexa into the Mech Designer System had been the last chore on his immediate to-do list. The Bluejay Fleet had already loaded in the last batch of supplies and personnel transfers. All of the starships and warships had been fully replenished and could take part in a lengthy campaign at any time. "Let’s be on our way, then." Ves responded. "Is there anything I should know about the fleet?" The admiral of the Bluejay Fleet decided to issue a tentative warning. "Due to the priority of this fleet, the RA and RF have brought over new and experimental technology. This should make our forces considerably more effective in combat, but not all of the new weapons and equipment have undergone proper testing cycles. While I am not casting doubt on the developers, complex experimental systems have a tendency to misbehave, especially when they are being stressed." Ves threw a glance at the admiral. "What are you saying, exactly?" "I believe the scientists and developers are good enough to produce new technologies that work fine under normal simulations and highly controlled testing environments. What I am not confident in is that their new products will be able to withstand the rigor of heavy use and continuous fighting. Battle damage, wear-and-tear and unintentional mishandling all have the potential to cause a potential cascade of errors. I have seen it happen before during calmer times, and I expect that such events have a much higher likelihood of occurring during this dire period." As a mech designer, Ves understood the admiral’s concerns. He knew quite well how new technologies could produce accidents because they had not undergone thorough testing. It was too tedious and time-consuming to stress test new technologies to their limit and beyond. Back in the Age of Mechs, the mechers and fleeters would definitely dedicate a dozen years or more solely on exhaustive tests on any new and innovative technologies. They could not afford to do so anymore now that they had entered the Age of Dawn. The alien invasions continued to maul the troops at the frontlines with each passing day. Even if recent developments had caused people to become a little more optimistic, the native aliens and the mutated voribugs still had plenty of chances to cause huge setbacks! The two wars ignited red humanity’s drive for progress. Human technology advanced by leaps and bounds, but all of this reckless progression produced a lot of unintended consequences. Ves had read plenty of industry articles that described a sharp rise in accident rates. More products came out with faults that should have been detected and addressed during testing phases. Though the benefits obviously justified the added risks, that did not necessarily make the victims happy. "Do we have enough time during our journey to the Terran front to stress test the new gear by ourselves?" Ves quietly asked. The admiral shook his head. "Not even close enough. We lack the time as well as the conditions to conduct proper trials for all of the new tech. We can only explore them cautiously and reduce their exposure to limit-breaking conditions. As long as we do not impose a heavy load on them, I am reasonably certain that their performance will remain within tolerable boundaries." In other words, the Bluejay Fleet must never be put in a desperate situation like the last battle! "I cannot promise you that we can remain out of hot water forever." Ves grimly stated. "However, once we reunite with the Premier Fleet of my clan, your mechs and warships don’t have to bear all of the burden yourselves. With multiple ace mechs and 30 Ascended Giants at our disposal, the enemy will treat your assets as background noise." "I have mixed feelings about that, sir. On the one hand, I hope that your words are true so that my assets will not be forced to perform beyond their operational limitations. On the other hand, we are all soldiers who have pledged an oath to defend red humanity and destroy any aliens that threaten our civilization. We cannot do so as effectively if we are being treated as marginal threats." Ves smiled at that. "That is why we should count the new technologies as a blessing rather than a burden. Your men may not be as remarkable as our champions, but tech and hardware can partially make up for all of the gaps. I have inspected the Nacer Flecks received by the Moloch Squadron. Their quantities are not too high, but they have the potential to cut off thousands of phasefighters from their motherships and maybe even isolate individual enemy phase lords. We need that kind of ingenuity to empower our mundane soldiers." "I agree in principle." The older naval commander said. "However, I am not enthusiastic about my fleet being used as an improvised testing platform. Deploying so many new systems and technologies at a time is a recipe for disaster. I do not have to perform any calculations to predict that one of our new mechs or warships will eventually suffer glitches during a serious engagement. Those glitches may end up producing a series of faults that can cause a partial shutdown or inflict crippling damage to core systems." The risk of this happening should not be too great to mechs, but the same could not be said for warships. The latter were much bigger and more complex. Their hulls easily crammed in hundreds if not thousands of different systems and subsystems, each of which were intricately connected with each other. One minor fault could cause other faults in dozens of other systems. These errors could subsequently cause misalignments in even more systems! All of this made the deployment of new and untested starships a risky endeavor. Though Ves personally did not think it would be that bad for the starships and warships of the Bluejay Fleet, he could not afford to ignore the prudent warning issued by a knowledgeable and experienced naval commander. The two began to discuss possibilities of slowing down the upcoming campaign so that the crews could spend more time on testing the new technologies. The personnel could also spend the additional delays on more inspections and repairs. While Ves was willing to stretch the timeline a bit, there had to be a limit on how much they delayed the sequence of their upcoming maneuvers. "The more we slow down, the more we put our forces at risk." He said. "Our upcoming incursion into native alien space relies heavily on speed and shock to stay a few steps ahead of any enemy responses and counterattacks. We cannot afford to slow down too much or else the native aliens will be able to amass their fleets and launch an overwhelming attack at our coordinates." "Then we will have to find a balance that satisfies both our internal and external safety." Admiral Tensen concluded. Much like anything else, they needed to strike an optimal balance. Ves actually was not too concerned about the assets of the Bluejay Fleet. Even if an accident occurred, there should still be plenty of other friendly assets that could cover for the ones that malfunctioned. What he was truly concerned about was the readiness of his upcoming Woodsap mechs. The Terrans had truly invested a lot of manpower and resources into the Arboreal Project, but it was such an innovative and unprecedented approach to mech design that the probability of faults still remained high! This was because no matter how much the Terrans invested in the elemental Carmine mech design project, they could not completely eliminate the need for time. The prototype Woodsap mechs needed to undergo an extensive amount of testing before Ves could even think of making them available to a wider audience!