Chapter 3286: A New Model of Masterworks A bomb went off inside Ves as he made a completely new realization about masterworks. He had always known that what he figured out and what he had been told about masterworks was never the full picture. The MTA's obsession of masterworks made it clear that they were definitely more remarkable than what Ves currently knew about them. He just didn't know in what way. Now, Ves had the suspicion that he managed to peel a layer of mist today. The astounding instance where Ketis, who was situated far away from the thick of action, managed to cross a large distance of space and directly allowed Sharpie to descend on to the Decapitator. Not only that, but she also managed to wield the giant mech sword as if she was holding it in person! So many incomprehensible and reality-defying events happened in this brief sequence that Ves would probably break his head before he figured everything out. The powers shown by Ketis belonged to her and her alone, so trying to copy her exact same methods was futile. However, Ves was still able to gain a lot of inspiration from seeing her perform something that Ves had never imagined. He had created masterwork mechs before but never thought he could connect to them as if they were a part of his own self. Ketis was different. She was much worse than him in the field of mech design when it came to experience, knowledge and practicality, but she possessed one great strength that genuinely received his admiration. She had a great feel for swords. Her extreme dedication towards swords and swordsman mechs was reflective of how much she was willing to set aside just to concentrate on her narrow interests, and she was rewarded for that sacrifice by developing an incredible degree of understanding, intuition and passion for her chosen calling! Such a great confluence of strengths and advantages had the potential of producing innovative new results. Only someone with an extreme mindset as hers would think of connecting with one of her best pieces! The fact that she actually succeeded caused Ves to take his former student a lot more seriously. He had always looked down on her a little bit due to her younger age and gap between progression, but now he was feeling similar to how Master Willix must be regarding him sometimes. "So this is what it's like when the student surpasses the master." Ves did not feel any jealousy or displeasure at Ketis' success. Ves already developed a large and extensive toolbox of his own. Anything that his student made could also be adapted into his own toolbox if he wished. This was exactly what he was trying to do at the moment. He had always yearned to empower his mechs and find a way to contribute further to battles between mechs. If he could do what Ketis had just performed, he would no longer be relegated to the role of tech support! Certainly, his current duties were not inconsequential. As one of the few Journeymen in the fleet, his insights of mechs and technology reached a high level. He had already made a real difference by passing on his insights on the strengths of his own mech designs and the weaknesses he spotted in the mechs used by the opposition. "That's not enough, though." Ves was a Larkinson, and there was fire in his blood. He might not be able to pilot a mech in battle, but if he had a more direct way of contributing to a battle, then he would definitely embrace it without a thought! This was not the time to indulge in his fancies, though. Mechs were still being torn apart as the battle continued to rage. The Living Sentinels were no longer able to remain on standby and had all been deployed to fight the advancing dwarves. The battle between the different expert mechs grew more intense. The Bolvos Rage and the Gatecrasher fought even harder against each other despite the progressively worse battle damage they incurred. The First Sword was on a vengeance against the trio of dwarven expert mechs that had almost succeeded in pulling off their trapping scheme. The Amaranto's fragile frame showed various degrees of damage as it teamed up with the Shield of Samar to resist the simultaneous onslaught of two Slug Ranger expert rifleman mechs. The Dark Zephyr and the Amphis were trying their best to resist the bestial expert mech supporting the much more formidable left flank of the dwarven mech force. Each of these flashpoints were crucial to both sides. The balance was so fragile and precarious that just a single change could have massive implications. Neither the expeditionary fleet nor the dwarven fleet could afford to lose any of the individual clashes! As long as one of them tipped over, a cascade might result that could trigger a complete collapse to the disadvantaged side! The bridge of the Spirit of Bentheim had become busier than ever as the vessel's shield generators had reached their limits and her hull sustained various degrees of battle damage, some worse than others. Hundreds of damage control parties were running around to put out fires, throw away hazardous debris and recover bodies from collapsed compartments. A heavy weight pressed on his heart. "We might lose it all. It only takes one spell of misfortune to make our suffering a hundred times worse." He did not want to fall in this forsaken dwarven empire. He hadn't reached the Red Ocean yet! He was nowhere close to realizing his design philosophy! His daughter hadn't even been born yet! She was supposed to have a wonderful life ahead of her. How could he possibly allow her to fall in this stupid, backwater star sector?! Just the thought of something happening to his precious daughter caused his breath to hitch. There was no greater motivation for someone to fight for than to ensure the life and happiness of their own child! Parental love was what drove his own parents to exile themselves to the Nyxian Gap. Though Ves didn't need to do something so drastic, he must at least do his own part to ensure that nothing would ever happen to his baby! "I need to come up with something quickly while the battle hasn't deteriorated beyond salvaging." After he initially focused on the Quint and came into contact with his masterwork in a way that he had never done, Ves became subsumed by different theories. He had no idea whether his assumption that masterworks were extensions of their creators was true. It could be that other mech designers such as Ketis looked at these great works in a different way. Ves just adopted this particular model because he was a life-oriented mech designer. No matter what was the case, this happened to be a model which worked for him. The moment he adopted this new model of masterworks, the way he saw and interpreted them had changed. He no longer treated them as discrete works that had little to do with him after he delivered them to his clients. They were transcendent creations that not only represented the best of what his craftsmanship had to offer, but also encapsulated his design philosophy to its highest potential. He could sense the active nature of the Quint even though he did not look further into the details. Sentinel Commander Casella Ingvar was in the middle of a fight and was leaning heavily on the Quint to support her. The degree of cooperation he sensed from them was deeper and more extensive than anything he had seen! "What a great mech." Ves sighed as he admired his own work. He was a bit clueless on how to empower it, though. When Ves tried to transfer his spiritual energy over to see if that helped or anything, he ended up with no noticeable results. First, transferring spiritual energy to the Quint was difficult due to the distance. The bond he held with the masterwork version of the Bright Warrior model was not that strong. As an experiment, Ves briefly tried to connect to his other masterwork mechs. "Let's see how they are doing." He was able to connect to the Amaranto without much trouble since it was in the same fleet, but he wasn't able to reach out at all to his remaining two masterwork mechs. "They're too far away!" If he concentrated hard and tried his best to reach out his senses, he might be able to detect a faint trace of the Devil Tiger and the Little Angel. He could vaguely tell that both of them were located in the same direction which happened to point straight towards the Komodo Star Sector. Aside from that, there was nothing he could do. "My ability to sense them will probably grow worse with distance. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to do this when I've reached the Red Ocean." Obviously, there were limits to this technique. They might loosen if he advanced to Senior or higher, but that was too far away. Right now, Ves needed to figure out what he could do as a Journeyman. He spent an entire minute trying out different ideas. Most of them did not yield any improvements. The Quint was like a sieve where all of the spiritual energy he sent out was just flowing through it as if it was not able to make use of this gift. This was not dissimilar to what happened if he did the same to a mech that was standing right next to him. He made a number of conclusions based on this outcome. "Even if I can connect to my masterworks, it doesn't necessarily mean anything. I don't have a way to convert my juice into useful work." It was like holding a battery. The object itself could contain enough energy to power the Amastendira, but without a real energy weapon or some other method to make use of the available energy, a battery alone was not capable to defeating a powerful enemy! "I don't have any good offensive techniques." He realized. Much of his spiritual research and development was oriented towards creation and mech design. His toolbox was filled with productive tools, but only a handful of them could be employed as weapons, which weren't adapted to mech combat. "An even greater problem is that the Quint isn't acting as an open channel to my abilities." Everything he tried to send to the Quint was getting dumped into space before dissipating. Due to these failures, he tried to think back on how Ketis managed to effectively project her power to one one of her masterworks. Unlike Ves, Ketis was also a swordmaster. This was an extraordinary combat profession and one that shared clear commonalities with expert pilots. As a result, the Swordmaiden mech designer was able to leverage her will and unleash unimaginable strength! Ves wasn't able to do this, but thinking about Ketis' example caused him to develop an interesting idea. "Ketis has a sword, but I have a cat." One of the many elements that stood out from his former student's feat was that she did not control the Decapitator directly, but somehow sent Sharpie over to possess the weapon. Though Ves initially had a lot of doubts about how Sharpie was able to displace itself so far away from Ketis without breaking her mind, his new model and theory on masterwork creations was able to supply him with an acceptable explanation. "If a masterwork is an extension of its creator, then it should be able to anchor a companion spirit!" This was a major conclusion that could change a lot! Perhaps Ves wasn't as helpless as he thought. "Blinky!" Mrow…? "Wake up, you lazy bum. We're in the middle of a battle right now and it's time for you to make a contribution." Mrow… mrow?! "You heard me, Blinky. It's off to battle for you now!" Mrowwwww!