Chapter 6961 The Third User The campaigning intensified. The different leadership candidates all knew what was at stake. They campaigned intensively and broadcasted their public events on a frequent basis. The election would begin in less than 2 weeks. This gave them very little time to publicize their agenda, make the Larkinsons remember their key points and inspire confidence in their ability to lead the clan during these difficult times. Ves observed the campaigning from a distance. No one important had asked for his help, and he did not intend to meddle with the proceedings in any fashion. His time in leading the clan had effectively come to an end. Ves already enjoyed the sense of liberation and the removal of responsibilities that he increasingly found burdensome. Once his successor formally took over, Ves no longer had to worry about so much stuff and could devote more time to his mech design projects. Just because he was vacating his patriarch position did not mean he was leaving the Design Department. He still held the relatively senior and honorary position of elder designer over there. Even though he originally created it so that he could put Gloriana in charge of the Design Department, being an elder designer still granted him a lot of privileges. He essentially held all of the benefits of a lead designer without being weighed down by all of the leadership responsibilities. This would leave him free to work on his mech design projects without needing to babysit other mech designers. That had become Gloriana's job. While she was doing a pretty good job of taking care of the emerging talents of the Design Department, she regularly groused about how much time she had to spend on 'housekeeping'. When the days of waiting and anticipation passed, it was finally time to bring Gloriana into the fold. Ves tried his best to remain calm while his wife barely managed to repress her rising excitement. "I love you so much! You are such a good boy!" Gloriana excitedly picked up Marvaine and showered him with kisses despite his feeble protests. "Mama! I have to go to class! Put me down!" Gloriana only put him down after she had pecked him with several dozen kisses. Marvaine looked thoroughly embarrassed for being treated like a baby. His sisters were already doing their best to suppress their own giggles. Shannon Maris — their nanny — soon arrived to escort the children to the school that the Larkinsons had set up in another section of the Tortuous Scream. Attending the new school set up by the Premier Branch to educate the kids of the first-raters serving on the converted alien battleship was not going to be as pleasant as before. The kids all enjoyed their time at the Joan Devos Elementary School. They made numerous friends outside of the Larkinson Clan that they still maintained contact with by remote. They also participated in plenty of extracurricular activities. The new school was not able to provide as much enrichment. Its classes were also a lot smaller due to the relatively low number of people serving on the Tortuous Scream. The Premier Branch was not that big to begin with, and it had been difficult recruiting spacers that possessed better-than-average qualifications as well as a willingness to serve on a converted alien battleship. The Tortuous Stream may have gained a new human interface, but that existed on top of the original alien control system. The huge vessel was still an orven warship for all intents and purposes. This meant that the spacers could no longer blindly apply their own training and experience to their stations. They instead had to interpret the translated alien controls and constantly be aware of what was going on. This not only required greater knowledge, but also sound judgment. Fortunately, the Tortuous Scream may be a little understaffed at the moment, but she was not lacking in truly critical personnel. Enough spacers had grown tired of serving on weaponless starships and wanted to try their hand at serving on an actual warship. They were unable to join the Common Fleet Alliance, so signing up to crew the Tortuous Scream actually sounded like a good alternative. The Larkinson Clan was famous for getting into lots of scraps! The Premier Branch would definitely make aggressive use of the Tortuous Scream. This would satisfy all of the repressed warship enthusiasts and finally give them a taste of what it was like to be actual combatants like the mech pilots that they often envied in the past. Recruitment never ceased. The Tortuous Scream was an alien battleship that was 3.6 kilometers long. She possessed so much internal space that she could easily house the entire population of the capital city of Sandan with plenty of room to spare! It would take a long time to fill up the compartments of the Tortuous Scream. The sample applied to Vulcan's Glory, the first-class fleet carrier with an awesome gravitic catapult. The personnel requirements were not as strict over there, but the Larkinsons still preferred to crew the capital ship with senior and more capable ratings and officers. While the children went off to school, Ves and Gloriana remained silent as they departed for their own workplace. Lucky also came with them. Gloriana currently held him in her arms as if he was a baby. The group moved to the section that had been especially reserved for the Design Department. The SF-02 RF Smart AI Data Processing Cluster had already been installed in a nearby compartment. Right now, much of the available processing power was split between the productive smart AIs and the naval smart AIs. Sovvy, based on the Sea Sovereign template, was already running hundreds of elaborate combat simulations per second. Each of these dynamic and partially randomized scenarios involved a confrontation between some or all of the elements of the Premier Fleet against a variety of alien and human forces. Even if there was a limit to how much Sovvy could simulate the full range of enemy behavior on the battlefield, he was rapidly growing more familiar with the characteristics of the different mechs and starships and how to employ them to the best effect. Stella, based on the Star Watcher template, did not directly busy herself with combat scenarios. Instead, the smart AI examined all of the superdrives installed on the warships and deeply analyzed the records that described the local and regional space environment. She also began to conduct tentative simulations related to navigation. Superdrives were far more powerful than the older FTL drives and warp drives they replaced. This not only made them faster, but also increased the range of possible uses. With the right calculations, forecasts and preparations, it was very much possible to help a starship move 20 percent faster than what her superdrive was originally rated for! Higher ratios could also be achieved as long as the drive engineers were willing to let their babies suffer grievous damage. Stella could help do that and more. Ves had mainly chosen to add this smart AI to the processor cluster because it remained essential for the Premier Fleet to remain mobile and agile enough to evade strong pursuers. If the fleet ever got caught by an ancient phase whale or other strong opponent, then running away was the only choice! Ves had even heard rumors that the Red Fleet developed secret methods to forcibly engage in FTL travel in areas that were normally under the sway of nearby gravity wells. He did not dare to hope that Stella mastered this particular fleeter trade secret, but he hoped that she would at least make it easier for the Larkinson starships to slip into FTL travel. For now, both naval smart AIs had only just come into power. They still needed a lot more time to settle into their roles as the fleet advisor and the navigation assistant of the Premier Fleet. As Ves led his wife into his new private workshop, he waved his Apocalypse Warden bodyguards to stay out of the compartment before closing the armored hatch. He then proceeded to deploy his full security suite. He had made sure the shipbuilders over at the E-66 Experimental Yard refurbish this entire section to massively increase its security. From using meters-thick solid armor plating that was impregnated with Solus Gas to employing state-of-the-art detection systems, Ves felt quite confident in the base level of security of his new workplace. Of course, Ves not only dispatched Lucky to sniff for any hidden bugs, but also activated his super-class signal jammer. Although he knew that these security measures were likely redundant, it was best to be too cautious than too careless. "Are you ready?" He asked as he stared into her eyes. Gloriana sardonically smiled. "Do you truly have to ask?" "Once I initiate you into this secret, there is no going back. You will have to carry a new responsibility for the rest of your life. If you mess this up in any way, a lot of people's lives will change for the worse. What I am about to divulge to you is so potent that it shares the same roots of the secret that the Polymath has relied upon to break so many records." His wife widened her eyes. "Is that true?!" Ves seriously nodded. "I am not exaggerating. The Polymath has done an excellent job at protecting her secret, and look where that got her. Even though it had also caused her fall from grace, that does not take away the fact that making good use of the benefits that will soon become available to you can supercharge your progression." Gloriana only grew more and more eager when she heard that. At the same time, she understood the gravity of the situation a little better. She leaned forward and kissed him. "You can trust me, Ves. I will never betray your confidence. This is so big that I am genuinely grateful that you have chosen to share it with me. I will not even complain that you decided to bring Ketis aboard before me. After thinking it over in the last four days, I realize that you are not a mech designer who can easily bring himself to trust a person who has already betrayed his confidence once. I… deserved to be kept in the dark." Ves looked rather impressed. This was a rare frank admission from a woman who always demanded perfection from herself. "I am glad to hear that, honey. That said, talk is cheap. If you truly want to prove that my trust in you is justified, then you must keep your promises. We shall see whether you can do that much." With that said, Ves accessed the System and paid the 10 AP fee to induct another user. Soon enough, time froze in realspace while three mech designers entered the System Space at the same time. Ves had already made an appointment with Ketis to enter the System Space at this exact timing! "Welcome to the Mech Designer System." Ves introduced. "Take a good look. You will grow familiar with this alternate space very soon." His wife genuinely looked awed at how her real body, or at least a close simulation, had entered a very different space. This was far more sophisticated than simple teleportation. The woman could not even begin to decipher the science behind such an advancement means of displacement. Her eyes soon snapped to the firm and steely presence of a Journeyman Mech Designer. "Ketis." Gloriana tersely greeted. "Gloriana." Ketis gave the Senior a nod that betrayed only the mildest of respect. "I will not pretend to understand how you have managed to seduce Ves into making the unwise decision to bring you here. I am sure he has already told you to keep your mouth shut, but just to hit this message home, let me issue my own warning. Keep. Your. Mouth. Shut." The swordmaster's tone clearly did not sit well with the director of the Design Department. This was especially the case since she was a Senior Mech Designer while Ketis was still a Journeyman Mech Designer. In the mech industry, it was taboo for the latter to threaten the former! "I have already given my solemn promise. How many times do I have to convince you that I have no intentions of divulging what I have learned?" "It is never enough as far as I am concerned." Ketis said. "You may have convinced Ves that you have changed for the better, but I am not so easily convinced. I will be keeping my own eye on you. If you ever betray his confidence as well as my own, then I will promise you that I will hunt you down no matter where you are. You will not like it when that happens." Gloriana refused to back down against this naked threat. "Oh? What do you intend to do to me, swordmaster?" "For the sake of Ves and your children, I will not use my Bloodsinger to chop you in half. I will instead chop your arms, legs and any organs that are not essential to your immediate survival. You should eventually be able to recover from your wounds by relying on advanced treatments, but you will always bear the mental scars of getting cut by my life sword. This is the mercy that you do not deserve but will receive anyway. If you make another major transgression, then I will hunt you down again. Only this time, I will not be merciful, or make any attempt to spare your life. Have I made myself clear, director?" "...Yes. You have made your point." Although Gloriana did not want to lower her momentum against a mech designer who was worse than her, she had no other choice. There was no way for Gloriana to mount any effective resistance against the current holder of the Heavensword! She would need to gain the protection of a god pilot if she wanted to counter the threat posed by the young and impulsive swordmaster! Ves meanwhile stood helplessly by the side. "Ketis, please don't sour the mood. Gloriana is already aware of the importance of maintaining discretion. Let us now spoil this experience for her entirely by continuing to threaten her. We will all be compatriots and users of the System going forward, so please be more open to cooperation." "..." "..."