Chapter 7080: EdNet Graduates The Larkinsons that had chosen to undergo EdNet training already ended their lengthy and strenuous session more than a week ago. Their conditions upon exiting virtual reality were awful. Their brain had been running on up to 4 times their normal thinking speed during every waking moment. This was not normal. The Larkinsons who volunteered for this training all went through extensive preparations in order to make sure they could endure the pressure as long as possible. They all received first-class cranial implants and other augmentations in order to ‘bring them up to standard’ in a manner of speaking. None of this treatment was cheap, but the Larkinson Clan had already made an agreement with the Red Association about it. Ves wanted to accept nothing less than the best for his clansmen. The absence of so many mech designers and high-ranking personnel left a large void in the Larkinson Clan at the time. Ves found himself missing the company of a lot of trustworthy friends and comrades. He had fought or worked alongside them for up to a decade. He dearly missed their expertise. He could have definitely used their talents and advice in the years following the Great Severing. Yet that was a short-term perspective on the matter. The cold hard truth was that third-class professionals possessed too many shortcomings compared to the well-educated first-raters that the Larkinsons preferred to recruit these days. It was too much to ask for people who grew up in third-rate states such as the Bright Republic to become as competent at their jobs as former Terrans and Rubarthans. Ves had given all of the cadre of the Larkinson Clan an offer to undergo EdNet training. Many accepted, but there were those that refused for one reason or another. People like Ketis could not bear to separate herself from her children. She also was not really in a hurry to be promoted to a first-class mech designer. In hindsight, those who stayed behind did not necessarily lose out. This was because the introduction of systematic cultivation drastically reduced the gap between third-raters and first-raters. Although genetic treatments and artificial implants still granted significant advantages to their recipients, those who cultivated the right methods steadily increased their learning speeds and comprehension. They were able to simulate the performance of expensive augmentations for a fraction of the cost! Not everyone improved at the same speed as others, but everyone benefited in at least one fashion or another. This diminished the gains made by the people who went through EdNet training as they were unable to cultivate while they resided in the virtual learning environment. All they could do was to follow the original plan and cram as many lessons taught by the Red Association into their heads as possible. Perhaps the biggest advantage of going through EdNet training was that each participant had access to a lot of high-quality lessons and teaching materials from one of the most powerful human organizations. The mech designers were especially happy as the RA freely made a lot of internal courses available to them! They all enjoyed an education that was almost equivalent to what internal members such as Jovy Armalon and Vector Loban once enjoyed. Many high technologies that red humanity had mastered over the centuries became available to them. Since the mech designers all possessed highly defined specializations, they could easily select additional courses on subjects that were directly related to their design philosophies. All of this meant that Ves and Gloriana expected to welcome a lot of powerful helpers. The arrival of so many loyal ‘first-class’ mech designers should definitely boost the productivity of the Design Department by noticeable degree! The other professionals also received a lot of lessons that prepared them to occupy high positions in a powerful first-class organization. They gained a comprehensive amount of knowledge on history, management, culture, military leadership, alien civilizations and more. Once they returned to the clan, they would definitely be able to professionalize the Larkinson Clan even further! Given the importance of reintegrating the EdNet graduates into the clan, Ves and Gloriana decided to book a middle-sized venue and welcome the returning Larkinsons with a banquet! That was why Ves and his immediate family had dressed up for the occasion and waited for the RA to bring back the recovered Larkinsons. “Look! A convoy is flying in. I bet they are coming.” Andraste said and pointed beyond the courtyard. Ves already confirmed that the passenger shuttles contained Larkinsons. They were all connected to the Larkinson Network so they were able to recognize each other as kin even without showing their faces to each other. It had been a while since he felt the presence of General Verle, Director Calabast and the Voiken siblings. In his impression, the gap between them was smaller than he anticipated. Ves had grown enormously during the Age of Dawn. He developed his Spirituality further and absorbed a lot of scattered knowledge. His successes propelled his design philosophy to greater heights. Yet the EdNet graduates did not think they had fallen behind too much compared to the founder of the clan. Many of them had mastered skills and absorbed knowledge that only the RA had access to during normal times. This gave them the qualifications to participate in greater affairs. They had turned from people who could previously only look up to the high-and-mighty first-raters to becoming their equals! To ordinary people, this was their own version of transcendence! A third-rater transforming into a first-rater was as significant as ascending to godhood as far as many people were concerned. Ves had managed to accomplish this through his own work and the gambles I had made during my downtime. The EdNet graduates did so due to a combination of talent and being lucky enough to be eligible to take advantage of a life-changing opportunity. As the Larkinsons wearing new and pristine smart clothing disembarked from their vehicles, Ves could immediately tell that they had yet to return to their peak. Each and every Larkinson looked tired in one way or another. It was as if they had been forced to stay awake for too long. The constant exertion and low-level brain damage inflicted by prolonged exposure to an accelerated virtual reality had caused each of the graduates to look as if they had been wrung out of every bit of courage they had left. The returning Larkinsons almost looked traumatized if not for the low smiles adorning their faces. They were tired, but they were also content with how much they managed to improve. Yet for all of their gains, they also exhibited a bit of discomfort to the reality around them. THey spent so much time in a distorted virtual setting that the EdNet graduates felt out of sync with the cosmos. It was as if they no longer recognized the society they previously lived in. So much had changed in so little time that they still felt a bit disjointed. The group filed out of their vehicles and automatically moved forward until they stood in front of Ves. Their behavior largely suggested that they still saw him as their patriarch and leader. Even though they should have kept up with the news from the real universe, the changes clearly had not fully set into their cognitions. Ves inwardly sighed. The disconnect between reality and these people was much more severe than he expected. If the Larkinson Clan wanted to smoothly integrate these disparate forces, she must find a way to become the thread that binded them to a grand cause. As the highest-ranking official of the Larkinson Clan who went through EdNet training first, General Quinlist Verle stepped forward and saluted Ves. “It is a pleasure to see you again, Patriarch Emeritus Ves.” Ves smiled back. “I am glad that you have returned, Verle. By the way, don’t call me patriarch. I have stepped down recently. I am just a mech designer these days.” “You are far more than a mech designer.” General Verle shook his head. “You are still the founder of our clan, the Father of Carmine Mechs, a tier 3 galactic citizen, a friend of two god pilots, a son of a literal goddess, a member of the Oblivion Gate Consortium, the founder and an an important councilor of the Red Collective, the creator of the first god ship and the first human phase lord. You managed to accomplish most of what I have listed during the time we stayed away from the clan. That is definite proof that you are far more than a simple mech designer.” Okay, maybe General Verle made a good point. “It has been difficult for me to carry so many burdens, general. Now that you and your fellow EdNet graduates are back and ready to get to work, I need you to find your place in the clan and do your best to help us survive the current crisis. You should already know that we are resisting against two formidable opponents at this time.” General Verle actually began to grin. “Good. Our civilization is in dire straits if it is locked in a death match against a single opponent, but now that the voribugs have emerged, the Red Ocean has become host to a free-for-all. There is much more room for maneuver for us. We will need to do our best to make the mutated voribugs attack Rubarthans pace over our own. We can do this through a combination of overt actions and covert sabotage. We can take care of this mission on your behalf.” “Let’s not be too hasty, Verle. You still have to fully reconnect with the current reality before you can tackle anything of significance.” After he finished his chat with General Verle, Ves turned her attention to Director Calabast Arnlend, the clan’s foremost spymistress and intrigue master. She looked the most well-adjusted among the EdNet graduates. It looked as if her tolerance for this kind of training was significantly better than normal. She fared so much better that she most definitely was not drunk or intoxicated! What was also different was how much possessiveness and superiority she conveyed through her language and body langeous. “Calabast.” “Ves.” “You look… smarter.” “I think ‘deadlier’ is the more correct term, but I shall excuse your questionable judgment.” She said with her characteristic smirk. “Our intelligence apparatus has clearly grown too passive as of late. That is not the intention. We need to be more willing to break a few rules in order to fulfill our objectives. It is my job to help the people understand who they are truly facing.” After he was done with greeting Calabast, Ves waited for the Journeymen to present themselves. “Sir.” Sara Voiken stood at attention. “We have come back as changed mech designers. Each of us have become first-class mech designers without a doubt. What we lack is a direction to work towards. We hope that you or the new matriarch can fill these positions for us again.” Ves could understand her concerns. “We have formulated detailed plans to reintroduce yourselves back to your original departments. Be patient. Everything will work out somehow. How strong is your grasp on the new tech?” “Quite strong.” She responded. “I will be happy to explain my gains later on. My colleagues can present their own stories to you. Each of us have made sure to branch out and master specializations that you normally would not expect from us. We have become more knowledgeable and versatile than before.” “We are looking forward to your demonstration.” Gloriana happily voiced. “The Design Department will become stronger than ever before. This is a great development, Ves. Maybe it is time for you to start the design process of genuine first-class multipurpose living mechs.” Ves seriously considered this option. It would keep all of the returning mech designers busy while also showcasing how much they have improved. “I will think about it.” He said. “I can see the merits of this decision.” Thank you for reading my work. If you wish to support The Mech Touch, please vote with your golden tickets! Purchase Privilege for The Mech Touch! Read a varying amount of chapters ahead of regular readers while enjoying a 99% discount on unlocking new chapters! Join The Mech Touch’s unofficial Discord server: https://discord.gg/APB5KCU