The biggest gamechanger to Ves was not just the transition from second-class mechs to first-class mechs, but access to more exclusive high technologies. The foremost high technology that Ves had always been greedy for was support link technology! Also called linking technology, it was a sophisticated way to transfer energy from one machine to another. Ves had witnessed it in action several times. He had seen CFA warships link their defenses together to withstand the strongest blows with their combined strengths. He had also seen the MTA's first-class multipurpose mechs confront alien warships head-on without fear for their overwhelming firepower. While energy link technology and shield link technology was subject to a lot of constraints that imposed limits on what they could do, they were still essential to develop mechs that could compete at the highest level! A first-class mech force with access to support link technology could easily overwhelm a first-class mech force that lacked this high-end tech! For a long time, Ves never thought about incorporating this useful tech in any of his mechs. Only the top first-class powers possessed the wealth, resources, manpower and infrastructure to make widespread use of this tech. It would definitely be a struggle for the Larkinson Clan to implement support link technology into all of its future first-class mechs in the short term. The demands were too high. Ves would have to barter for assistance from the mechers or other first-class powers in order to incorporate this tech in his own products in a shorter time frame. "If the time has come to go on an expedition, my mechs cannot deploy on the battlefield without the protection bestowed by shield link technology! The attrition rate will become too high if my mechs can be picked off one by one!" The battles against the wheednar and yurzen raiding fleets had already taught him that even weaker opponents could make his forces bleed. Mechs were simply too small and easy to pick off. Shield link technology could make it a lot harder for the aliens to inflict serious casualties. "I don't have to worry about this right away. I need to study and become proficient in all of the science that leads up to shield link technology before I can even think about applying it onto my own machines." That was the troublesome part about first-class mech design. Unless Ves was able to obtain a suitable enlightenment fruit, the only way to get started on all of this powerful tech was to spend a lot of time on studying! "This is why I need to cut back on my projects for the time being." He decided to set aside the Elephant Project for the future. He also chose to postpone his work on an experimental transphasic field ECM mech that he had high hopes for. While it might help a lot in countering the phasewater tech employed by aliens, Ves was not sure whether he could turn this into a practical product in a reasonable timeframe. This still left him with way too many projects that he could not easily dismiss. The most crucial ones were the expert mech design projects. The Dawn Star Project that revolved around upgrading his grandfather's Carmine mech was nonnegotiable. Ves had already made decent progress on it through his incarnations. However, due to confidentiality as well as other reasons, he didn't have any collaborators who shared the burden of designing it, which meant that Ves still had a huge amount of work ahead of him if he wanted to deliver a proper high-tier expert mech. Even his wife was limited by how much assistance she could provide by implementing her god body solution on the metallic components of the upgraded version of Venerable Benjamin's current machine. Other than that, Ves needed to do all of the heavy lifting himself. "Still, it will be worth it. This expert mech out of all of my other ones will encapsulate my design philosophy the most. Not even the Everchanger can compare to it due to the absence of the Carmine System!" That caused him to contemplate whether he should offer to integrate his other Larkinson expert mechs with their own Carmine Systems when it was time to update their designs. "There is no point in thinking about this now." Ves at least needed to upgrade them into quasi-first-class mechs in the next five years, but he still had plenty of time to tackle these projects. Aside from the Dawn Star Project, the Bloodripper Project and the Jupiter Project also demanded his attention. Fortunately for him, his wife had taken charge of both expert mech design projects. She had become especially attached to the Jupiter Project. Designed for General Ark Larkinson, this was a genuine high-tier expert mech design whose scope easily matched or exceeded that of the Mars Project! Ves did not have to worry too much about the progress of the Jupiter Project since his wife had obviously fallen in love with it. She was especially ecstatic about implementing all kinds of newer and more updated tech that they previously weren't able to incorporate in the initial version of Patriarch Reginald's machine. That left a bunch of standard mech projects. Although he was officially involved in the design of the Storm Sword Project, it belonged to Ketis for the most part. His only job was to make the mech alive and to connect it to Respa. That was the extent of his contribution. He was more than happy to leave the rest to Ketis and her other collaborators. As for the rifleman mech project that he intended to embark upon after finding an external collaborator, Ves decided to shelve it until he had more time at a later date. While the Larkinson Clan most definitely needed a new and dedicated spaceborn quasi-first-class rifleman mech, Ves ultimately thought that it might be better to wait a bit more so that he could gain access to newer and better tech. He had learned about lots of useful technological advances during the conference that were bound to be introduced in the near future. The mechers were especially keen on strengthening the ability for ordinary forces to threaten alien warships. This meant that the next mech generation was bound to include powerful new offensive tech that would make it a lot easier to drain transphasic energy shields at a distance! "I can't delay my heavy artillery mech projects, though." Ves had already accepted a bunch of commissions for the Colonial Federation of Davute. The decision made sense at the time, but now seemed out of place now that he could obtain much better concessions. Nonetheless, a contract was a contract. Ves did not object to completing the Supremo Project along with the remaining commissions for a second-class colonial state. Perhaps the heavy artillery mech designed especially for the Davutans might not weigh so heavily on his mind anymore, but it was still a project that he had high hopes on. It was not a waste of time to design this interesting machine in collaboration with a Master Mech Designer who specialized in this mech type! So long as the Supremo Project and future Davutan mechs produced great results in the war against the native aliens, Ves could gain a lot of reputation by being able to point out that his works could substantially boost the combat effectiveness of an entire state! The Hex Federation would no longer be the only state that gained a huge amount of benefits by making use of his exclusive living mechs. That alone made these second-class commissions worth it. The Davutans probably didn't dare to hassle him about completing them in a hurry, so Ves could space them out so that he did not get swamped by too many projects. Ves decided to postpone the Transcendent Punisher Mark III for the same reasons as he did for his rifleman mech project. While he had made a lot more progress in the design of this strategically important Larkinson mech, it did not make sense for him to work on it any further for the time being. When he initially made the decision to upgrade his Transcendent Punishers, he didn't know at the time that the Red Association was on track to introduce a lot of new technologies aimed towards boosting the firepower of ranged mechs. That left him with the final ongoing mech design project. Ves struggled whether he should continue to work on the Fey Project or respecify it into a first-class mech. "No. It should already be useful as a quasi-first-class mech. It is an advanced and costly design, but it is not as exaggerated as the Elephant Project. What is most important is that its features are in much greater demand on lesser battlefields. I doubt I can design spurs that are effective enough to withstand the firepower or fool the sensor systems of first-class opponents." Ves needed to master a lot more first-class technologies before he could design a proper first-class incarnation of the Fey Project. He breathed a lot easier now that Ves had substantially reined in his work schedule. Now that he had reduced his scope to 6 mech design projects, of which 2 of them did not impose too many demands of his time, he had freed enough time to study for the future! "As long as I don't make my workload any greater than the current level, I am sure I can get started on designing my first proper first-class mech in four or so years!" The timing was crucial to Ves. He wanted to design and fabricate at least a couple of essential first-class living mechs before he and his clan embarked on their first deep strike operation. Ves did not want to become a warlord by relying on first-class mechs designed by others! As powerful and trustworthy as they may be, it just wouldn't be the same. It took a bit of time to register these changes in the Design Department. Once he had made it clear to everyone that he intended to juggle fewer mech design projects at the same time, he dropped by his wife to discuss their progress. "You should have reduced your workload much sooner." She told him. "In fact, you should have never been arrogant enough to accept so many projects in the first place. I am happy that you finally regained your senses." "Hey, it's not that bad. If it wasn't so important for me to be promoted to a first-class mech designer as soon as possible, I would have been able to complete those projects within a year." That sounded like a stretch to Gloriana. Ves didn't even have a first-class cranial implant! How could he possibly solve so many design problems without such a powerful tool? That reminded her of her own impending upgrade. She couldn't help but grin at the thought. "I have already begun to correspond with the research team of the implant development company that you have arranged for me. I won't be able to replace my old cranial implant with a new one until I have completed my ongoing design projects, but that is not a detriment. The implant engineers will have more time to customize the high-quality cranial implant according to my needs. They can also implement the latest technological advances that have come out at an accelerated rate ever since we entered the Age of Dawn." It would be even better if Gloriana waited for a couple of years before undergoing implantation operation, but that was way too long for her. She wanted to become a first-class mech designer by relying on her own efforts just like Ves, and the only way she could come close to his upgraded learning speed was to rely on the power of technology! Ves understood this reasoning, so he didn't attempt to persuade her to be patient. That said, he learned about a number interesting new technological applications that his wife might want to add to her future cranial implant. "Have you heard about experiments that involve integrating hyper materials in cranial implants? I have heard that they can help with absorbing the right kinds of E energy. I think it might be interesting for you to consider this option. It might not be useful to you directly, but I am sure that you can speed up Alexandria's growth with this upgrade." "Is that true?!"