Ves gained a different outlook on the Mech Designer System after bringing Gloriana into the fold. If he was able to give Gloriana access to its powerful features, then why not other trusted mech designers? He might have known Alexa Streon for a lot less years than his wife, but his direct disciple had proven her loyalty, competence and diligence many times over. She should have been a prime recruit for the System as far as he was concerned. Then there were other promising candidates. Zanthar Larkinson was not only family, but Ves had played an outsized role in shaping his education and attitude towards mech design. Compared to Alexa, Zanthar also needed the System more. The third-rater did not enjoy the benefits of being born as a designer baby. He also did not have the benefit of particularly expensive and powerful cranial implants either. The assistance provided by auxiliary qi cultivation may be able to help him narrow the gap between himself and first-class mech designers, but it should still take him far too much time to build up his foundation, especially since he had to play catch-up to the likes of Alexa Streon and Kelsey Ampatoch. "I'll take a good look after him after I have finished with Alexa." Ves told himself. Aside from these obvious candidates, Ves also could not forget about the ones that did not catch his attention on a regular basis but still showed good qualities. For example, there were dozens of Apprentice Mech Designers who had been with the clan since the early days but never managed to break through for one reason or another. Perhaps their talent and ability may not be so stellar, but their loyalty and other qualities made up for their shortcomings. Ves did not really care too much about the former. Gaining access to the powerful features of the System could turn any average mech designer into a brilliant innovator. What the System could not do was to make mech designers more grateful and loyal to him. This was why he needed to select for these qualities in advance. Not every mech designer could be as staunchly loyal and trustworthy as Ketis. Ves did not ask for the impossible in every candidate. They just had to be good enough to reassure his concerns. "I also can't forget about the mech designers who will soon complete their EdNet training." He reminded himself. Almost four whole years had passed since all of those Journeymen first applied for this special benefit. Familiar mainstays such as Sara Voiken felt they were being left behind by Ves and urgently wanted to undergo EdNet training in order to get 20 years worth of high-intensity study in an accelerated virtual learning environment. In hindsight, Ves maybe should have been more open to inducting them into the Mech Designer System instead, but he was not ready to take such a radical and dangerous step at the time. Did he regret his reticence? Perhaps, but there was no use crying over spilt milk. Besides, it was not necessarily a bad idea to have a bunch of Larkinson mech designers go on exchange and study in a completely different environment from the Larkinson Clan. All of those EdNet mech designers gained access to the exclusive or near-exclusive teaching resources of the Red Association. By the time they returned to the Larkinson Clan in the near future, they would not only be fully capable of designing first-class multipurpose mechs, but also showcase numerous new specializations that were normally exclusive to RA mech designers. Of course, spending 20 subjective years away from the Larkinsons most definitely alienated them from the clan. Ves needed to make sure to give them enough time to reunite with their old brothers and sisters and make sure they integrated back into the Design Department. It might take a while before he became certain of their loyalty and commitment to the Larkinson Clan, but Ves was not in a hurry. "What about people outside of the clan?" While Ves felt a lot more reluctant to induct mech designers who did not originally belong to the Larkinson Clan, it was not an entirely unacceptable idea. He needed to be truly certain about a mech designer's trustworthiness if he wanted to recruit an outsider. In many cases, it was just better to recruit him or her into the Larkinson Clan first. What about the cases where this was not possible? Ves was already thinking about inviting Jovy Armalon to become a part of his secret club. However, Jovy was a born and raised mecher. The Red Association's stamp on him was so ironclad that it was impossible for him to leave the superorganization. Should Ves induct him into the System anyway? "No. That is not a good idea." The Red Association had already rolled out its own kinship network in order to root out cosmopolitan agents and other traitors. As the inventor of kinship networks, he knew quite well that it was difficult for individuals to maintain their privacy if their spirits were permanently connected to a vast spiritual monitoring system. While Ves was able to think of a few tricks to block or spoof the monitoring of the Larkinson Network, it only took one mistake to leak one of the greatest secrets in the Red Ocean! Ves did not believe that Jovy was more capable than him in this regard. Besides, ever since the mechers erected their own kinship network, they definitely developed it further according to their own requirements. As one of the successors of the Five Scrolls Compact, the mechers most definitely possessed the knowledge to change and evolve the initial form of the kinship network into a much more robust product of E-engineering. Ves suddenly made the realization that the Larkinson Network may in fact be one of the least developed kinship networks that were currently in existence! After all, Ves never spent any time on updating it after he created it. He never assigned the T Institute to develop it further. The only entity that could change the Larkinson Network was the Golden Cat herself. Since she was the heart and soul of this kinship network, her growth and evolution also strengthened the Larkinson Network, but that was more incidental than anything. If Ves wanted to make sure that the Larkinson Network kept up with the times, then he needed to put a serious team of cultivation scientists, E-engineers, computer scientists and other relevant experts on the job. "Goldie." He spoke. "Nyaaa!" The Golden Cat manifested next to Ves and immediately pressed her warm and fuzzy spiritual body against his head. "You should know what is on my mind, right? I think that you should devote a lot more attention to this. The Larkinson Network is probably severely out of date. You don't necessarily need to add more features, but you have to make sure to strengthen the existing ones. No matter what, outsiders should never be able to compromise it. Do you agree?" "Nyaaa nyaaa!" "I will make sure to draft a memo to the T Institute right away. The people over there should form a team or expand an existing one if they have one already. We cannot afford to neglect this priority." "Nya!" Ves did what he said. Even if he had been reduced to a lame duck patriarch, a task like this still fell within his authority. He did not think that the Saint Commander or whoever succeeded his position would mind. He turned his attention back to possible System candidates. "I'm sorry, Jovy, but as long as you are part of the Red Association, I can't invite you into my super-secret club." The security risks were too great. Even if Ves felt that Jovy was trustworthy and dependable enough to know about the Mech Designer System, that definitely did not apply to the other members of the Association! The only way for Ves to bring Jovy over was if the latter formally left the Red Association, but that was inconceivable. The mechers invested too much in him. It took a fortune to raise him as a designer baby and feed high-quality resources to him as he grew up. He also benefited from the best education that the MTA and subsequently the RA could provide. At this stage, Jovy was still horribly indebted to the Association. Even if he made enough contributions to pay back the total cost of turning him into an incredibly competent mech designer, that was not the intention of the Association. The mechers never suffered a loss when they engaged in trades. The entire point of pouring so many resources into Jovy was to hope that he would be one of the few truly successful mech designers who would become so productive in the future that he could pay himself back thousands of times! After all, for every success case like Jovy, there were hundreds if not thousands of lesser mech designers who failed to live up to their potential. It was pretty much hopeless for these losers to pay back the cost of raising and educating them for so many years. "If I was in the Association's shoes, I would never let Jovy slip from my grasp." That was especially the case since Jovy's high-potential design philosophy was steadily beginning to realize its amazing potential. From what Jovy was able to do with the Chaos Armor of the Riot Mark III Project, Ves simply could not understand how his fellow Senior Mech Designer was able to contort the laws of reality to the point of actively weaponizing the power of luck! This was such a unique and amazing operation that anyone could see how much more frightening Jovy's design philosophy could become once he advanced to the rank of Master Mech Designer. At that point, Jovy would probably be able to affect the probabilities of many more phenomena. This may even include the Holy Grail, which encompassed the chance of triggering the breakthrough of a mech pilot! Anyone with a brain would treat Jovy like a treasure. It was already generous that the Survivalist Faction allowed Jovy to continue to serve as a liaison to Ves. The mechers correctly assumed that Jovy would be able to make greater progress if he continued to stay by the side of his old friend. "The only way I can recruit him is if the Red Association collapses." What was the probability of that happening? Close to zero. Ves pushed aside all thoughts of trying to induct Jovy into the System and began to think of other possible names. Tristan Wesseling? He shook his head. "No." Tristan possessed a proud and independent streak. Ves had already invited the former Fridayman to join the Larkinson Clan, but the Journeyman Mech Designer still honored his oath to the Colonial Federation of Davute. While Ves could respect a mech designer that stayed true to his promises, it was a pity that this also made Tristan less trustworthy on a personal basis. "Let's see how long he will keep this up when Davute finally falls." Despite the Saint General's heroics, the damage to Davute's infrastructure continued to accumulate. The alien invaders were inflicting considerably more damage to the defenses and industries than the Davutans could repair in time. Once the Davute System inevitably collapsed, that should be the end of the second-rate state. Ves would definitely approach Tristan again at that time, but his offer would not be as generous as before. "Perhaps it is already too late to bring Tristan into my inner circle." That was regretful, but Ves would not lose any sleep over it. The man already had his chance. Aside from Tristan, Ves could not think of any other mech designers that he wanted to induct into the System. He had developed a working relationship with numerous respectable Master Mech Designers, but Ves completely rejected their candidacy. The System provided the greatest value to the young and ignorant. The older and more knowledgeable the mech designer, the less they valued its features. To most Master Mech Designers, the System might be able to help them overcome their bottlenecks and help them advance to the rank of Star Designer, but Ves was not too certain about this guess. Besides, Ves did not have much confidence in his ability to control wily old Masters. It was best not to tempt fate. "I should stick to setting my sights on the young and impressionable low-ranking mech designers of the Design Department. They are much easier to fool than these old geezers."