It was easy for Ves to pay a visit to Master Benedict's design lab. Both the Cat Nest and the Cross Production Complex were located inside Industrial District 2. If Ves wanted to, he could just walk over to the large industrial complex further down the street. There was no need to tempt fate. Ves settled for boarding an armored shuttle and made a short transit to the CPC under heavy escort. The members of the Cross Clan briefly looked up as the ostentatious Larkinson mechs hovered protectively around a fairly unassuming black vehicle. They soon ignored the sight and returned to their own activities. Ves had visited the CPC enough time for his arrival to turn into a routine occurrence. Ves didn't even need the help of an attendant to reach the Primary Cross Lab. As the counterpart of the Larkinson Clan's Genesis Lab, the Primary Cross Lab is the primary engine of mech design and technological innovation of this branch location. When Ves and his bodyguards passed through the main entrance, he waved to the receptionists and guards and easily passed through the checkpoints without taking up a lot of time. It took around five minutes for Ves to enter an underground design lab where Master Benedict Cortez conducted his latest research. The fairly new Master Mech Designer did not bother to suspend and hide his latest research activity. Benedict somehow managed to get his hands on a collection of nunser skulls. The alien skulls were carefully stored in transparent containers that were stacked against a wall. "Good afternoon, Ves." The preoccupied Master called out as he continued to tinker with a device connected to one of his nunser skulls. "You look troubled today. I assumed you would be in a good mood considering that you are close to completing your new epochal works." Even the head designer of the Cross Clan recognized the transformational meaning of the Dullahan Project and the Ghost Project. "What are you working on, Benedict?" The visitor asked as he moved closer until he was able to get a good look of what was on the workbench. He already had a good idea what Benedict wanted to accomplish after he recognized a lot of familiar elements to the experimental mechanisms. "As you know, the Endex System that I have devised is a substitute for my Original Energy Bridge System." Master Benedict calmly explained even as he attached a few wires to the holes that he had drilled in the alien skull. "While the Endex System can play a useful role to high-end mechs such as your Dullahan Project, it simply does not replicate the full power of the original solution that I have developed for the Mars." "I don't think the MTA will like it if you start using the skulls of expert pilots left and right." Ves stated the obvious. The older mech designer nodded. "That is so. This is why I have decided to develop a variation of the OEBS but with alien skulls instead of human remains. After consulting with numerous exobiologists, I have learned that the nunser race is the best starting point. Compared to the other intelligent indigenous races of the Red Ocean, the nunsers are strong in body but also remarkably firm in mind. They possess tough and tenacious attitudes and are known to fare well under adversity. They are the closest alien substitute to high-ranking mech pilots that I can readily obtain." Eccentric mech designers certainly had a habit of starting unusual research projects. Only a nutcase would think that experimenting with alien skulls was a legitimate research direction. Ves remained skeptical, though. "Expert pilots are demigods whose bodies are mildly transformed by their extraordinary willpower. As far as I know, ordinary nunsers do not possess these traits. They should be completely normal." "I do not completely believe that is the case." Master Benedict replied. "At the very least, the upper echelon of nunsers are all obsessed with incorporating phasewater in their bodies. They engage in a variety of different methods that are meant to strengthen them beyond a norm. Don't underestimate my new collection. The skulls that I bought are taken from high-quality stock. I believe that there should be at least one skull among my current collection that has developed qualities that are somewhat similar to that of a human expert pilot or at least an expert candidate." That actually sounded reasonable. Ves actually became a little more optimistic about Master Benedict's chances of making a small breakthrough. That was far from enough to make his latest idea practical and viable. "There should be a limit to the power that you can draw from a relatively normal nunser skull." Ves pointed out. "The only ones that are truly worth taking are the skulls of phase lords. I bet you can produce much more drastic results if we have harvested the head of the Trampler of Stars." A strong yearning expression appeared on Master Benedict's face! "It is such a pity that the Trampler of Stars managed to escape from our clutches. When we resume our Trailblazer Expedition, I would like to prioritize the search of other phase lords. These native 'gods' are the most ideal ingredients and test subjects for my current research. If our expeditionary fleet has successfully captured or killed an actual phase lord, I would like first dibs on the spoils." Ves casually nodded after hearing what the Master Mech Designer needed. "Your need for them is the greatest, so it shouldn't be a problem to meet your request. However, I have my own uses for phase lords, so I would like to claim the second one for myself." Benedict didn't ask what Ves had in mind for the phase lord. He merely nodded in acceptance. "Very well. It will be more inconvenient for us to compete for the same spoils, but as long as we put more effort into hunting down these rare and precious phase lords, we should both be able to have our fill." "Phase lords can be tough to take down, Benedict. They might not be as strong as actual phase whales, but even the Mars struggled to contain the Trampler of Stars." "The Jedda Sandivar and the Royal Jeem are much better at defeating strong individual targets. We can turn them into effective phase lord killers as long as we apply targeted improvements to these ace mechs." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦 "I doubt the Adelaides and the Boojays will allow us to rashly tinker with their greatest trump cards, Benedict. Besides, if these two ace mechs do all of the work, the groups they belong to will earn the greatest share of the spoils. You will have to make a lot of concessions if you want to grab the corpse of an alien god from their hands." They continued to talk about the practicalities of hunting phase lords. They were not that common and Ves didn't even know whether Ylvaine was strong enough to track these alien transcendents. It took five more minutes before Ves finally saw an opportunity to bring up the matter he truly wanted to talk about today. "Would you like to hear a story about the Amaranto?" Ves suddenly asked. "Mhmm?" "Once my design team along with Master Willix completed this mech design, we did not fabricate it straight away. Instead, I chose to send off our work to a… friend, who subsequently refined and optimized the entire design. This friend of mine not only improved the work of Journeymen such as myself and my fellow Larkinson mechs, but also improved the work of Master Willix to the same degree." It took a few seconds of Master Benedict to understand the implications. He went still. He immediately understood the implications of receiving the guidance of an anonymous mech designer. An individual of this caliber could not only understand the essence of his life's work, but also applied many ingenious solutions while simultaneously pointing out so many viable improvement directions. The older man slowly turned around and looked straight into Ves' eyes. "Are you telling me that your 'friend' is willing to extend the same service to you again?" Benedict's voice quivered as if he was on the verge of winning the lottery! Ves slowly nodded. "That is the case, but the caveat is that he is only willing to do it once. We can either hand over the design of the Dullahan Project or the Ghost Project. I am struggling to make up my mind. I can think of plenty of arguments in favor of either choice. Since you have played a substantial role in the design of both of these expert mechs, I figure that I might as well pull you into my decision-making process." "Wise decision." Master Benedict said with appreciation. "Please explain your current arguments to me. I would first like to know your perspective before I add my own." Ves did so. It took ten minutes or so to explain all of the possible pros and cons that he had thought of over the last few months. As a Master Mech Designer, Benedict easily comprehended these views. His eyes twinkled with understanding. "Interesting. I can see why you are struggling. Both choices are equally viable as far as I am concerned. Even I cannot fully make up my mind. The Ghost Project incorporates a highly abnormal variation of my Original Energy Bridge System. The Dullahan Project on the other hand contains my Endex System. A choice between the two is a choice between ultimate power and mass production." The older mech designer looked enormously entangled as he had fallen into the same pit as Ves! However, Benedict was not as young and shallow as Ves. He quickly cut through the fog of indecision and offered additional guidance. "Since improving either expert mech designs provide benefits to your work in equal fashion, you should disregard these criteria entirely and base your choice on other factors. For example, think about the needs of your clan. Which one is more useful to you in the short-term?" "The Ghost Project." Ves immediately replied. "Which one is more useful to you in the long-term. "The Dullahan Project." Ves admitted. The value and utility of having an extremely powerful defense-oriented high-ranking mech was incalculable! Once Jannzi advanced to ace pilot in the future, she could easily become powerful enough to withstand the attacks of weaker warships. The expeditionary fleet would gain a lot more leeway in escaping ambushes and confronting dangerous alien warfleets! "Which one do you most want to turn into masterwork?" "...I can't decide." Benedict picked up an important clue from Ves' latest answer. His eyes turned more inquisitive as he regarded the Journeyman Mech Designer. "Both your Dullahan Project and your Ghost Project are characterized by a number of radically different innovations of yours. I think that you have reached a point in your career where you need to make an important decision about the future direction of your design philosophy." Ves looked confused. What did this have to do with the Superpublish function? "Pardon, Master?" "The Empowered Blood Sharing System and the Geist System are completely opposite from each other." Benedict directly pointed out. "The former is a metaphysical innovation that primarily aims to deepen and strengthen the relationship between mechs and mech pilots. The latter is an unusual application that seeks to qualitatively improve and strengthen a mech's utilization of external sources of power. One is internal and the other is external. Each of them are based on your design philosophy, but neither of the two are strongly related to each other. If you have to give up on one of them so that you can fully pursue the other, which research direction will you choose?" "..." Master Benedict directly explained the true dilemma that held Ves back from making a decision. Ves felt even more certain that his answer to this crucial question would define his work and permanently shape the evolution direction of his design philosophy!